Discontinued
by ChildInMe
Summary: Discontinued
1. Enter Yuri

**Title: Yuri Uchiha **

**Author: Heejung Lim**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And you are allowed to use Yuri and siblings for your stories if you ask permission. :)

**1. Enter Yuri**

The small girl looked up at the sign to the village entrance. She knew the symbol of Konoha ever since she was a baby. During her father's visits, she would sometimes run her finger around and around on the swirly carving on his headband (except it was sort of split into two in his headband.). The leaf symbol. And it was a good thing she was here. She hadn't known how much longer she would last.

She looked nothing more than a poor little beggar. Her dark hair was streaked with dirt, clothes were ragged and dirty, she was skinny, and her eyes were big, dark, and haunting.

'But I know everything is all right now.' she thought. She wanted to forget everything and bask in the joy of finally reaching her destination.

The girl was so tired that she fell without realizing it and slept for a long, long time.

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"Sakura-chan! Please let me go with you!" a whiny voice pleaded.

Sakura sighed in frustration. What did she do to ever deserve this? Naruto Uzumaki wanted to "date" Sakura. Even though she had to go do her duties at the hospital (as a medical nin). No matter how much she protested, he pleaded, nagged, begged, and whined. To the point where she couldn't take it anymore.

"Fine, all right! But-" Naruto stopped cheering. "You have to be quiet. No talking! And absolutely NO disturbing the patients."

"I can do that." he said cheerfully.

'No you can't.' thought Sakura, but didn't say anything out loud.

Both of them entered the hospital. Clean, white, boring hospital. Privately, Naruto hated it, but didn't say it aloud. After all, he had owed it to the hospital many times for saving him.

Just as they entered, a small streak shot out of the door.

"Ow! Who the hell was that! So rude! That person pushed me!" Naruto whined.

"You already broke your promise!" Sakura yelled, and pulled back her fist to punch him.

Naruto cowered. "Yeah, but someone pushed me."

"Come back here!" a frantic, brown-haired nurse yelled. She looked like she was in bad condition. The bags under her eyelids indicated that she hadn't slept for days, and she looked thinner than she should be.

"Who was that?" Sakura asked. She lowered her fist and looked up.

The nurse started crying. "Oh, Sakura-chan! I don't know what to do with that girl! That little devil runs around everywhere and escapes at least twice a day!"

While Sakura was trying to comfort the sobbing nurse, Naruto looked outside. The girl was still there, behind a tree, curiously peeking at him.

"Hey, little girl, come here! You shouldn't run away from a hospital!" Naruto cupped his hands and started bellowing in the girl's general direction.

She didn't say anything, just kept on staring.

"I'll go get her." He sighed, leaving behind Sakura and a VERY frustrated nurse. (From now on we'll refer her to as Mrs. Insane Nurse.)

The girl didn't struggle or do anything as Naruto went over and scooped her up. It was a little…creepy.

"You shouldn't run away like that? Why do you do that?" Naruto sighed.

The girl said nothing.

"Thank you." Mrs. Insane Nurse had composed herself and wiped away her tears. "I don't know how I got stuck with her. Come on, Number 11." She grabbed the little girl's hand.

"Number 11? Shouldn't you call her by her real name?" Naruto asked, looking at the little girl.

"She doesn't have a name. Not one that we know, anyways. The little brat doesn't talk." the nurse wailed. "I don't know what to do with her!"

The girl took this as a cue to bite Mrs. Insane Nurse's hand. The woman howled in pain and immediately slapped the little girl. Eleven rubbed the new red spot on her cheek gently and then stared at the nurse.

"Naruto will take care of her." Sakura volunteered. "He'll take her out for the rest of the day." That would keep him occupied, the girl would be entertained, and the nurse would be happy. She gave herself a pat on the back.

Mrs. Insane Nurse stopped crying and looked up to Sakura as if she was a goddess who was talking to mere mortals. "Really? Could he do that?"

"Um, no!" Naruto yelled, but as he saw the nurse's bottom lip quiver, he yelled out a, "Yes, of course! My pleasure!"

The little girl, Number Eleven, cocked her head slightly to the right and stared at the blonde ninja. It was kinda cute, but Mrs. Insane Nurse didn't think so.

"Let's go, Eleven!" Naruto said in a forced happy voice. "We'll have so much fun, you're head will spin!"

"I doubt that." Mrs. Insane Nurse said dryly as Naruto left with the little girl's hand in his own.

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What do little girl like to do, thought Naruto. Oh, I know! They like teddy bears. Yup, who could resist harmless little teddies? Naruto remembered he used to have a little teddy bear (he had to look for it. Hmmmm. ) And Gaara had told him about his own teddy bears, too!

"Hey, um, Eleven, I'll buy you something!" Naruto exclaimed.

Eleven looked at him blankly. It was creepy sometimes, the way she stared. Quietly, emotionlessly, sort of weird for a short four-year-old. There was something about Eleven that reminded him of someone. But who?

"You look stunted. More like you've just turned three, not a big four-year-old girl. You should eat more ramen." Naruto said, patting her head.

Eleven sneezed.

"Cold? Don't worry. We can go to my house, and it'll be all nice and toasty in there."

Eleven bit Naruto shortly after he said that. Naruto yelped in pain. That girl's teeth were sharp! Little piranha.

Eleven gave him another blank stare.

"Just stop looking at me like that." Naruto said, patting her on the head. But his hand still hurt.

There was something familiar yet strange about the girl. Just something. He had to put his finger on. Some sort of an aura, in her innocent little eyes.

"Do you like pink? Of course, all girls like pink!" Naruto yelled, getting excited and hyper.

They both approached a small but warm and friendly-looking toyshop. Naruto hesitated for a minute, then patted the girl's head again and said, "You stay here. I'm gonna get you something nice and cuddly."

It was an awkward situation. Naruto had no idea on how to deal with little girls, let alone this strange, sort of hostile one. She bit people, for heaven's sake!

Of course, anyone who personally knew the little kid would have known that was a big mistake. Because when Naruto went back outside, triumphant with a pink teddy bear in his hands, Eleven was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no! Dammit, what'll Sakura and Nurse say?" Naruto screamed. Visions of a bloodthirsty Sakura and (especially) Mrs. Insane Nurse came into his vision. And his corpse was not pleasant, not pleasant at all.

"Ah, how could you do this to me!" was heard all over the village. People turned to stare at Naruto.

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Great. Just great. They'd put her in a hospital. Mommy always told her never to go in a hospital. They were bad. They took your blood and read it and found out who your mommy and daddy were, so she couldn't do it.

And they couldn't find out who Father was.

"_Happy birthday!" _

"_Yay, I'm four years old today!"_

"_Yes, you are. You're Mommy's little-"_

"Hey! There you are!"

The girl looked up in surprise, her sort-of-flashback interrupted. It was that guy again, the blonde one in icky orange. Naruto. And he was holding a vomit pink teddy bear in his hand. She despised teddy bears. And her favorite color was definitely not pink. She didn't like him, but she hadn't liked many people since that day.

"Hey, you know you're next to my house?" he asked.

Blank stare again. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"Whatever. Let's just go in."

Naruto opened the door and shoved Eleven roughly in. "Don't run off again. Sakura'll blame me, just me, only me, and nobody but me." h scolded.

Eleven strared blankly. But she also quickly inspected the room. As Mommy used to say, "Assess your surroundings first! That's very important."

Nothing threatening. Just a messy room with a table and chairs and other pieces of random furniture and junk crammed in. Not quite the kind of house she and Mommy had. Mommy was always cleaning. And their house was bigger, really big for the two of them, and even though it was small, it was always quite pretty.

"Here's your teddy." Naruto said, thrusting the soft, pink thing into her arms. "Nice, isn't it? Go play with it. I'm gonna take a shower. STAY HERE."

Naruto left the room. Eleven felt a little scared. Even though she hadn't liked him, he was a "big boy" and if Father came, he could maybe stop him. Just maybe.

She was alone, alone, alone in the room, with that toy that reminded her of…that day.

She found a kunai, a nice, shiny one, on the table. Perfect.

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"Heya, Eleven. What's up? Time to go back to the hosp… HOLY SHIT! WHAT DID YOU DO!!!!!!!!"

Naruto was shocked by what he saw. On the floor ripped to shreds, was the teddy bear he had spent his own, hard-earned money on. Or what was left of it. Bits of cotton, fluff, and pink material were scattered around. And there was red paint everywhere, splattered on the floor, so it looked like blood. Damn fricking red paint. It would take forever to wash out the stains.

And there was the little, harmless girl, who was either five or younger, painting some red on a kunai so it looked blood stained.

"Eleven!" Naruto shouted.

The little girl looked up and waved cheerfully.

Naruto felt frustrated. What was wrong with this girl? Was she a sick, twisted monster deep inside or what?

"Look, this indicates your mind is unhealthy. Or something like that." Naruto grouched, remembering something he had read while skimming through one of Sakura's books. "Little girls ripping up teddy bears and painting blood is not good."

Eleven threw what was the ear of the teddy at our favorite orange ninja. Needless to say, he got sort of offended.

Naruto made his way carefully over to Eleven (making sure he didn't get any paint on his feet). He crouched down eye-level to her and said, "This is a very bad thing. Little kids shouldn't do things like that."

Eleven reached over and bit him again. But this time, it was softer and didn't hurt as much. But it still hurt.

"That's it. Back to the hospital." Naruto sighed, and picked the little girl up by her shirt. "You're a very weird girl, you know?"

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"Then she threw the ear at me! And after that, I went over to her, and she bit me again!" Naruto shouted, magnifying each word.

"Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "Shut up! Explain again slower and more quietly."

Both of them were outside, in the forest, awaiting their late (surprise, surprise!) sensei. Then Naruto started telling Sakura about his day Eleven.

"That girl worries me." Naruto kept talking in his loud voice. "And she reminds me of someone, just someone. I can't put my finger on it. Not to mention that I actually feel sorry for Mrs. Insane Nurse. Are you going to the hospital today?"

"That was random, but the answer is yes." Sakura replied immediately.

Naruto nodded. "Good. I want to see her again. She'll be sent to an orphanage, right? But I think…" Naruto hesitated here. "Okay, this sound a little weird, but I think she should become a shinobi."

Sakura blinked. Twice. "Why?"

"Um, now that I think about it, she does seem pretty good for a little kid. I mean she escaped from me at the toy shop really quick, so she might've been using chakra. And that shredding that teddy bear into pieces with a kunai isn't exactly the easiest for a four-year-old. Right?"

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but then Kakashi appeared in a puff of smokeand said a simple, classic, "Yo."

"Oh, hi." Naruto said. "Let's go."

Kakashi stared at Naruto. After a few seconds, he said, "Quick, answer me! What is you favorite food?'

"Ramen." Naruto said immediately, and then stared back. "Why are you asking me this?" Jeez, what was wrong with the world?

Kakashi leaned on the nearest available tree. "Well, I had to make sure you were actually Naruto, and not a spy. Usually, the moment I arrive, you always whine about me being late."

"YOU ARE ALWAYS LATE!" Naruto yelled, realizing with fury that he hadn't scolded Kakashi at all. "READING THOSE PERVERTED NOVELS OF YOURS!"

"Just a delayed reaction, I see." Kakashi chuckled.

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Eleven wanted it badly, but nobody was going to give it to her. Mrs. Insane Nurse hated her, because she always tried to escape. But Mommy said hospitals were bad. She was right. They had needles, the kind of shots that totally freaked her out. She would NOT let them ever give her a shot. If they tried, she would struggle very hard. Sometimes she hit them, or kicked them. Most of times, she bit them, and was careful to send chakra to her teeth to make it even more painful.

The bag of cookies seemed to mock her. She wanted cookies badly, she hadn't eaten a single sweet thin since her birthday. And she loved cookies very much, especially the kind that Mommy made.

She was in her room, but through the window, she could peek into part of the gift shop, which contained bags and bags of yummies.

"HIYA ELEVEN!" a voice screamed.

Eleven did not flinch or even turn around. She already knew who it was. Daddy had taught her voice recognition, and she recognized that Naruto guy. All she cared about right now were the cookies. Delicious, sweet, chocolaty, heavenly cookies.

"Hmmm, whatcha staring at? Oh, cookies! Wait right here." There was a flurry and Naruto was gone. Eleven did not care. She commenced her day by staring at the blank, white ceiling.

But he was back a few minutes later.

Eleven perked up when she saw what he got. Cookies! She gave a smile and bounced up and down.

"You're really skinny. Here." In one, quick motion, Naruto ripped the bag open, and she quickly grabbed one.

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Naruto's heart ached a little, seeing the little girl. Her smile was beautiful, and the delight in her eyes was barely contained. Poor, poor little kid. She didn't have much to be happy about, from what he figured.

"Here." Naruto said, handing her another teddy bear, fresh from the gift shop.

Eleven cocked her head, and studied the new toy in her arms. She looked so cute that what happened next shocked Naruto. She quickly ripped off the head.

"Eleven!" Naruto yelled.

The girl looked up guiltily. She vigorously shook her head. She didn't want it. She hated teddy bears.

Naruto understood. Well, at least she was trying to communicate.

"Eleven, come on. What have you got against teddy bears?" Naruto sighed.

Eleven made a few hand signs. One of them was drawing an imaginary line across Naruto's headband. Another was a swishing motion.

"Eh? Sorry I don't understand you. If I buy you one more, promise not to rip it up, but to take good care of it?"

Eleven hesitated, and then nodded. She was starting to like Naruto quite a bit now. He was nice. Sort of like Mommy.

"All right. Good. Cuz I got another one right here. One from when I was a little kid." Naruto rummaged through a small bag he had brought. "Ah. Here he is."

Orange. An orange teddy bear.

Eleven took it gently and hugged it. There was something about it that she couldn't put her finger on. But what was it? Mmmm. She liked the nice guy who gave her teddies and cookies.

She decided on something. She tugged on Naruto's hand and whispered, "My name is Yuri."

There you have it! Yuri Uchiha has officially entered the story! (Of course, this entire story is about her. Sort of.)


	2. Interrogating Four Year Olds Suck

**2. Interrogating Four-Year –Olds Suck**

Yuri sat cross-legged in the shade, watching Naruto train.

Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were in a secluded part of the much beloved Konoha Forest. They'd been training for about two hours and were now taking a long break. Yuri was with them.

The little girl had followed Naruto everywhere. Naruto didn't mind. She was cute, and didn't bother him. But it had gone to a point where she lived with him, and refused to go back to the hospital. Naruto privately loved it, but didn't say anything.

Yuri didn't talk much. She nodded or shook her head when she could've said yes or no. She did say a few things occasionally like, "Naruto ni-chan." or "Want candy." But she only spoke to Naruto, and was mostly scared of everyone else.

"That kid is like a magnet." Kakashi remarked, tearing his eyes away from his "captivating and educational" book. (Cough, pervert, cough.) The girl stared back.

"I think it's really good that Naruto is taking care of her!" huffed Sakura. "He learns responsibility, and the poor orphan gets a home!"

Yuri looked up at the sound of Sakura's voice. Naruto had given her his headband to play with, since Yuri loved tracing her finger over the symbol.

"But I am responsible!" Naruto insisted.

Yuri stood up and started walking over to Naruto. When she reached him, she carefully positioned herself behind him and peeked nervously at the others.

"Aw! She's scared of you, Kakahi-sensei!" Sakura said.

'Scared of _me_! Wrong person, Sakura.' Kakashi thought, but didn't dare say it out loud. He had already gotten "playfully punched" yesterday, as Sakura had put it.

"Yuri, say hi to Kakashi-sensei and Sakura." Naruto said.

"H-Hi." The girl whispered. She didn't look shy, just scared to talk. Actually, Yuri wasn't at all the shy type. It was just that she was traumatized by certain past events.

"Hi!" Sakura said brightly. "That's a nice teddy bear you got there. What's its name?"

"Bastard-chan." The girl smiled. Sakura's mouth fell open, and Inner Sakura said something like, "Naruto, I know this is you!"

"Bastard-chan?" Kakashi repeated, eyebrow slightly raised. "Why did you name him that?"

"Heard Naruto talking about something, and he called someone named Sai a bastard. It sounds pretty." Yuri replied in a slightly brighter voice.

"NARUTO! YOU CAN NEVER BE RESPONSIBLE!" Sakura yelled.

"Oops." Kakashi said. "Ah well. Yuri, you should cover your eyes."

Yuri didn't know why she had to, but she dutifully put her hands in front of her eyes. And there was the sound of punching.

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"Parents?" Yuri asked.

"Yes, parents." Kakashi repeated again gently as possible. "Who are they?"

Yuri shuffled her feet a little. "Mommy's dead. And I don't know about Father."

"Poor kid!" Naruto sniffed. His bruise was partially covered by a Band-Aid because Sakura refused to heal him. (She was nice enough to give him the Band-Aid, though.) He wasn't a "bad influence for little kids," was he?

"Do you know where your dad is?" Kakashi asked.

Yuri shrugged. "Nope. We all forgot where he was, I think."

"We? Who else was there?"

Yuri looked a little thoughtful. "My brothers and sister. I have three brothers, but only one sister."

"Where are they now?" Kakashi inwardly thought that interrogating a four-year-old was harder than that Mist nin who had tried to murder all the interrogators a few years back.

"Um, I don't know." Yuri turned toward Naruto. "Candy?"

"No. No candy. You need to eat lunch." Naruto sighed, patting her head.

"Candy?" Yuri pouted.

"No candy." Naruto hoped she wouldn't put on that you-can't-deny-me-anything-cuz-I'm-so-damn cute face again.

Yuri's bottom lip quivered. Her eyes turned larger than usual. "C-C-Candy?" she said in a tearful, hurt voice.

"Fine!" Naruto quickly turned away from that face and threw a piece of candy at Yuri's direction. He hated it when she threw that look at him. It was impossible to refuse her anything.

Kakashi wanted to ask Yuri a few questions about where she was from. Obviously, it wasn't working out that well. But one must never give up too early.

"Who are your parents?" Kakashi persisted.

Yuri was sucking on the piece of candy. (It was caramel flavored with a vanilla center, by the way. There are candies like that in my mom's lawyer's office.) She scrunched up her face a little. "Mommy and Daddy."

Kakashi sighed in frustration. "But what are their names?"

"Um, I…" Yuri paused, looked frightened, and shook her head. "No. Mommy said I must never tell that kind of stuff."

'Overprotective mom. But who could blame the woman for wanting to protect such a sweet child?' Sakura thought.

Kakashi scrutinized Yuri for a few more minutes, and then said something on the lines of, "Hmm. Ahhh. Could it be?"

"Could it be what?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi smiled. Well, it was hard to tell with his mask, but it looked as though he was smiling. "Oh, nothing at all. Yuri, why don't you take off that jacket? It's so hot."

It really was hot, the sun was blazing. All of them were sweating like crazy, and Naruto mumbled, "Yeah, hot as hell." (Sakura punched him "lightly" shortly after and said, "You shouldn't say hell in front of a little kid!")

Yuri shook her head. "No. I look ugly there." She rubbed the place where (beneath the jacket) her arms were covered with bandages.

"Just don't, Kakashi-sensei. Just don't." Naruto piped up.

"Don't!" Yuri said in a bright, cheery voice, nodding her head vigorously. "It looks really bad there!"

"I don't mind." Kakashi said in a way kinder voice. "I'd like to see."

" 'Kay." Yuri said. She unbuttoned her thick jacket and threw it on the ground. Then she unwound the bandages and shoved her arms in front of Kakashi's face.

"Oh my. Oh my." Kakashi said.

"That looks bad." Sakura interjected.

Yuri's thin, little arms were badly, horribly, grotesquely scarred. Line upon line upon line of gashes. The kind that never fades away. And if you were a ninja, you could tell those had been done by a kunai. Purposely by a skilled ninja.

"Can I go now? Hungry." Yuri said. She stood up and tugged on Naruto's arm.

"Yes, you can. Go home and eat something." Naruto replied. He patted the girl on the head. (Now that was becoming a habit.)

A nod from Yuri. She left, but not the walking way little girls did, a speedy, big jump the way Naruto and Co. did. It was remarkable for someone so young to actually be able to use chakra properly.

"So she's got scars?" Sakura asked, although she meant to make it a statement.

"Yup. I didn't want you guys to see it. And someone obviously slashed her arms open at one point." Naruto answered grimly. "She doesn't say much about her past except for a few references about her mom. You know, 'Mommy made good cookies' or 'Mommy said never to play with matches.' That kinda stuff."

"I have my suspicions on who her father is." Kakashi said out of nowhere. "I must confirm it."

"Who?" Naruto and Sakura asked at the same time.

Kakashi shook his head. He held out his hand. "Here is a single hair from Yuri. I'll use it to prove that I am correct or incorrect."

Sakura stared at the single black hair while Naruto was staring at Kakashi in a fishy way and saying, "Wait? How did you get it?"

"See you tommorow!" Kakashi said. He had a single hand motion and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

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"Nani! I'll name her Nani-chan!" Yuri said in a boucy voice and buried her face in her newly christened teddy bear, "Nani-chan."

Naruto had begged her to change Bastard-chan's name. She did, of course. And smiled while she hugged the thing to death. (If teddies were alive that is.)

Yuri had been a lot more cheerful and noisier usually. It was a good thing, because the girl was starting be more open and could possibly become an extremely talented ninja. Although she had a hot temper and stubbornness to deal with.

"Nani was Mommy's name." Yuri bragged, stroking the teddy bear's fuzzy ears. "She had the most prettiest name in the entire village. She wanted to name me Nani after her, but Daddy said no."

Naruto listened with interest to the pert voice. This was the first time Yuri had said anything about her past.

"Daddy named me Yuri. I don't know why. He liked it, I think. Daddy had an ugly name. I hate Daddy!" Yuri suddenly blurted out suddenly.

Naruto was startled by this turn of events, but decided not to say anything.

"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to rip off his arms! I'm going to torture him to death! I'm going to-"

"Yuri!" Naruto said sharply. "Stop!"

Naruto's thoughts were something like this, 'That's sick! What kind of bastard was her father! And she shouldn't be so fixated on revenge! That reminds me of……

Naruto looked closer at little Yuri, who was gazing at him curiously.

'Sasuke!'

Why hadn't he ever noticed the resemblance before? The same brooding dark eyes and hair, pale skin, and semi-obsession on revenge. (Well, full obsession with Sasuke maybe.)

Yuri was oblivious to Naruto's thoughts and kept stroking Nani's little ars.

"Hey, Yuri. Do you know who Sasuke is?" Naruto asked. Of course, it could all be coincidence.

"No. Hey, can I have that?" she pointed to Naruto's bowl of ramen. He slid it over.

They were both blissfully eating lunch. Naruto had eaten two bowls already, but Yuri had eaten four. And now she was on her fifth. The girl sure ate a lot.

It was all just a coincidence. Right? Right?

No, it wasn't.

But anyways, in the shadows, a figure watched. The shadow of a person thinking of some very evil things to do. He would wreak revenge on-

"Heya, Konohamaru? Watcha doing?"

Konohamaru fell out of his hiding place. So much for stealth. "I'm spying on you and that girl, of course."

Twelve-year-old Konohamaru was annoyed by how much attention Naruto paid to that little brat. It annoyed him. Now they didn't hang out anymore at all. It was all "Yuri this" or "Yuri that." He was sick of it!

"You never pay attention to me! Only Yuri!" Konohamaru whined.

This was awkward. Naruto stuttered a little, but Yuri pushed him out of the way, and yelled to Konohamaru, "You're a jealous spoilsport!"

Konohamaru's face turned into a tomato red color. Wow, he sure does have a bad temper. "Am not!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

You can probably guess how their conversation went for the next hour and seven minutes. Naruto snuck away an entire hour before they realized it, though.

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Three figures were in the outskirts of the place called the Leaf Village. Two of them were moderately tall, about the height of an ordinary man. The other was puny, a small child.

"Konoha hasn't changed very much, eh?" Kisame asked.

No answer from Itachi. Needless to say, Kisame got annoyed.

"Jeez, would it kill you to answer a question? And what are you doing here?"

Itachi turned his head around very slowly. "I am here on a matter of family business.

Kisame was a little surprised. Was Itachi losing his mind as well as his eyesight as Kisame had suspected? (This is just Kisame's thoughts on Itachi. I don't really think of him that way.) "Your little brother is NOT in Konoha, he ran off and became missing-nin years ago? Or have you forgotten?"

"It is not my younger brother I am here to find." Itachi murmured.

The smallest figure made a small pathetic, whimpering noise. In a small, girlish voice, she started talking. "Please, are you here to find the others? I don't think they're here! Not even Yuri!"

"Quiet, Jooyeon." Itachi snapped. He administered a sharp poke to the forehead, something he used to do with Sasuke. Then he gave her a hard slap, something he had picked on the path of fatherhood.

"That little brat is annoying." The blue shark-man complained. "Why do you drag her along with you everywhere? Couldn't you just leave her at base?"

"No. Without my supervision, she will attempt to escape, and I can't afford that again. You know what happened last time."

Although they did not know it, in another place called Konoha Forest, a leaf broke off and gently drifted on Yuri's head.

"Hey, that's weird." Yuri said as she took the leaf off. "The last time that happened was when I was with Father."

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Yuri and Nani were with Mr. Kakashi. Privately, Yuri was scared of Kakashi. What if he had the Boogeyman under his mask? But she didn't say anything because she knew she could beat the Boogeyman into a bloody pulp.

"So, what are we doing here? Nani is scared." Yuri said.

They were both in a very, very isolated part of the forest, almost out of the village's borders. Kakashi had asked Naruto to lend her because he had to talk with her. Naruto had agreed, but _very _reluctantly.

"We're here to talk about you father. And we're in a place where nobody else can overhear." Kakashi explained patiently.

"Father?" Yuri wrinkled her nose. "Do I have to?"

"Yuri, I got some very interesting results using the DNA test." Kakashi said. After a blank stare from Yuri (jeez, Kakashi, you can't expect a four-year-old to know all that), Kakashi continue on with, "I know who your father is."

"Okay." Yuri smiled. She hugged Nani even tighter. "Can I go now? Nani's hungry. Naruto is going to make ramen!"

"No, Yuri. Do you know who your father is?" Kakashi asked.

Yuri nodded furiously. "But Mommy said never to tell anyone who."

"You escaped custody of your father? I mean, you ran away from your daddy?"

Yuri looked up again. "Um, yeah. All the others and I had to meet up in Konoha again, but nobody else is here!"

"Your siblings? I mean, brothers and sisters?" Kakashi inwardly thought he had to shrink his vocabulary a little when talking to her.

"Yup! Yuki and Jooyeon and Christo and Jongo! We all have the same daddy but different mommies. And we all come from different places. So we decided to meet here! The symbol on Daddy's headband was the same swirly thing everyone has here!"

"Your father is Itachi Uchiha?" Kakashi said, and braced himself for the answer.

"Yup! How did you know!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

That night, Naruto and Yuri were both sitting on the roof of the apartment, looking at the bright, shiny stars. They were sparkly dots across a midnight black background. (This is what Naruto thought, he could be very poetic if he wanted to.)

"You can wish on a star." Yuri told Naruto matter-of-factly.

Naruto nodded and pointed to one of the bigger stars. "My wish is that we can get Sasuke back. And that Akatsuki would stop existing."

Yuri stared at Naruto. "But that's two wishes! And who's Sasuke? He sounds, um, familiar."

Naruto smiled at that girl. "He was a friend of mine, but he…disappeared. By the way, what did you and Kakashi-sensei talk about today?"

Yuri was trying to connect the stars with her finger when Naruto asked that. She stopped and looked at him. "Stuff. About Daddy. And also, he's gonna try to find my brothers and sister!"

Naruto ruffled her black hair. "That's great, Yuri!"

"Yeah, by the way Daddy's name is-" suddenly Yuri broke off and pointed at the sky. "Look! A shooting star! You can make double wishes on those! Now both your wishes will come true!"

The shooting star was seen almost everywhere. And in other places, four other children lifted their faces towards the star. They all had the same eyes as Yuri, Itachi, and Sasuke.


	3. Christo, Yuri's Past, and Jooyeon

3. Christo and Sasuke, Some of Yuri's Past, and Jooeyeon

"Child of the devil!" another rock was thrown.

Christo was waiting patiently for the rock-throwing and name-calling to stop. He was used to this kind of treatment, especially since recently.

When Mother was still alive, he would run to her and bury his face in her lap and cry. And she would comfort him. But she wasn't here anymore.

The ring of children surrounding him was intimidating. And big. Very big, the biggest he'd seen. It was scary.

"We don't need you! We don't even want you!" a pasty-faced girl who looked roughly ten years old yelled. "A devil child is no use to us!"

Shouts of agreement erupted from the others. More rocks were thrown. Christo thought that this was taking forever to end. He regretted ever coming back to this village, this mean, hostile place.

"Hey! Break it up! Lizabeth, don't you have gate duty? And your mother wants you, Nathaniel!" another voice said.

Christo looked up weakly in relief. It was Amie, the daughter of the innkeeper. She was twelve years old and taken a liking to Christo ever since he was born. She had been nice to him, and babysat after him whenever his mother was busy. And she always stood up for him.

"C'mon. Let's go." someone else mumbled, and all the children dropped their rocks andleft for their home. They threw hateful glares toward Christo's direction, but Christo tried his best to ignore them.

"Thanks, Amie!" Christo squeaked.

Amie sighed. "It doesn't matter. It's almost time for dinner, they would've gone anyways. Here, you're dirty."

Amie bent down and wiped off a bloody patch on the grubby boy's cheek. Those bastards could be so cruel! Poor, poor Christo had done nothing wrong; in fact he had lost his entire family! But here people were, throwing rocks at the helpless boy and calling him devil child.

"Didja see the pretty shootin' star yesterday? Pretty!" Christo squealed. "Well, gots to go now, Amie. See ya later?"

Amie frowned. She'd noticed how thin he'd gotten lately. "When was the last time you ate?"

Christo screwed his face in concentration. "Um, yesterday dinner was some bread Old Widow Una gave me yesterday. She so nice! Give me bread sometimes! I drink water from the stream."

This made Amie even angrier. Besides her, only Old Widow Una showed any sign of kindness towards the small, grubby four-year-old.

"We are getting a decent meal inside of you. Come on." Amie grabbed Christo's scrawny wrist and started dragging him toward the direction of the inn.

"But people don't like me much." Christo whispered in a worried voice.

Amie sighed again. "It doesn't matter, I don't care. Besides, I always go in through the back entrance anyways."

Christo felt delighted. Food! He hadn't had much food in his four years. Amie would sneak him some stuff now and then, and Old Widow Una would give him some spare stuff, but other than that, he had to find or steal. Sometimes, he would creep into the cornfields and take some corn. That was his main intake besides the stuff Old Widow Una and Amie gave him. Once, he found a bunch of pastries in the garbage can near the bakery. They were really delicious!

In the inn, Amie scrubbed Christo and gave him new clothes. He was barely recognizable. His usual layer of dirt was gone, his hair was clean and brushed, and his clothes weren't rags and tatters.

"You look fresh." Amie said.

"I'm really full." Christo announced. He'd eaten some potatoes and noodles. They were the yummiest things he ever ate. Well, besides the tomatoes he and Yuri would sometimes steal from Daddy when-

Christo froze. Then he made a dash and hid behind Amie.

"What is, Christo?" Amie asked.

Christo took another peek. Then relaxed. "Oh, it's just I thought that this guy was Father. He looks a lot like him."

Amie looked at the direction Christo was gazing at. There was a table with four people, three men and one woman. The youngest one (who looked teenage age) looked startlingly like Christo's dad, she supposed. She'd never met Christo's father or ever hoped to, but seeing as Christo looked nothing like his mother, she always assumed he took after his father. And that guy and Christo had a startling resemblance.

"Yes, he does. Now Christo, don't wander off. Stay in the inn. I'm thinking I'll raise you myself, since nobody else wants to. I have some chores to do, so amuse yourself by doing something else." Amie patted Christo's head one last time and left.

Christo felt strangely drawn to the man who looked like his father. He had a familiar aura around him.

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When Naruto heard the blood-curdling shriek, he automatically thought someone was in danger.

He grabbed a kunai, still in his pajamas. (Please note this is after the timeskip, so he doesn't wear those doggy pajamas anymore. Just boxers and a shirt, like any other boy.) Then he ran to where the scream was, Yuri's room.

Yuri's room wasn't actually a room. It was a corner of the living room. She slept on the sofa, which she liked, with Nani-chan, like always. Naruto smiled whenever he saw Yuri sleeping, her blank, emotionless state reminded him a little of a certain missing-nin who used to be his friend. But the past was the past.

This time Yuri was fully awake. She was clutching Nani tightly. (Naruto thought that if Nani was alive, she would be strangled.) And her face was extremely pale and sweaty. Her chest moved up and down as she breathed heavily. Yuri was obviously scared.

"Mommy." she sobbed. "Mommy."

Naruto leaned down. "Yuri?"

"He was killing Mommy again!" another ear-splitting howl from Yuri erupted. "I had to see it again!"

"Yuri!" Naruto was shocked, to say the least. "Who killed your mother?"

"DADDY!" shrieked Yuri. "He killed her and made me watch. Mommy was always nice to me, even though everyone in the village made fun of her because nobody knew who Daddy was. Then he went and killed her!"

Yuri's crying deceased after about an hour. Exhausted, she fell asleep in Naruto's arm, but fidgeted often, murmuring things like, "Mommy."

Naruto knew she was having a nightmare.

"_Happy birthday!" _

"_Yay, I'm four years old today!"_

"_Yes, you are. You're Mommy's little-"_

_A thumping noise and a creak interrupted her. "Now who could that be?"_

_A figure entered the room. It was Daddy!_

"_Hello, Itachi." Nani said in a slightly cracked voice. "You're actually here on your only child's birthday for the first time."_

_Itachi's right eyebrow rose ever so slightly. "She's not my only child, Nani."_

_Nani was thrown off guard. "What? Not your only child? But I thought you loved me!"_

"_Yuri is one of many. I needed offspring for an experiment of mine, and I was quite pleased when you produced one." Itachi replied in a slightly bored tone._

"_HOW COULD YOU!" Nani screamed._

"_Mommy? Daddy? What's wrong?" Yuri was very confused. Why were they so angry at each other? Why?_

"_Yuri, please get in the room." Nani said calmly._

_The lone teddy bear and cake on the table lay untouched as Yuri snuck out the room into the hall. She peeked in, though._

"_Itachi." Anger spiked Nani's voice. "Please, leave. You have been nothing but a burden upon our daughter."_

"_A burden? I am not a burden." Itachi sniffed._

"_Yes, you are! Everyone wonders who that girl's father is and the children tease her! The adults snub her! She's been doing so excellently at ninja skills for a child her age that everyone's talking about it. Do you know who they say the father is? Some ninja from one of the five main villages who took a liking to me one day! They treat her like dirt. People from a small village like this hate the five main ones!" Nani ranted._

_Itachi walked closer to Nani. In one quick motion, he knocked down the table. The cake fell. The teddy bear bounced across the floor._

"_My teddy!" Yuri cried. She ran into the room toward the fallen bear._

"_Yuri." Itachi said in a calm voice. "Daughter, look this way."_

_Slowly, Yuri turned to Itachi. Instantly, he made a single slash on her arms using a kunai._

"_YAAAAAAA!" Yuri screeched. There was a fresh bloody gash on her right arm._

"_Yuri!" Nani cried. She started running to her wounded daughter._

"_Yuri, look at you mother." Itachi said. Yuri's tear-filled eyes connected with her mother running toward her. But Itachi gave one swipe of the kunai and she fell. Vibrant, caring Nani was dead._

_Itachi came closer. Yuri's thought were in a disarray._

_blood blood blood messy everywhere and daddy angry oh no he take kunai slash slash into arms mommy not moving and blood blood and more blood and scream bad bad arms bleeding hurts a lot why mommy not move bad blood bad bad blood blood_

Yuri woke up, sweat-drenched, again. She suppressed a scream. Instead, she started breathing again, In, out, in, out.

"Had bad dream about it again." Yuri whispered to Naruto, who was beside her. She snuggled Nani-chan closer to her and fell asleep again, but didn't dream. She knew she was safe.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Little Christo was trying to avoid everyone.

He had been with Amie for the past few days, and trailed her like a little shadow. Some people sent him a few death glares. But he hid behind his protector, who glared right back.

Right now, Amie was gone, doing the dishes. Christo had darted around a little, helping Amie out. He was now a little waiter at the inn. And right now, he was carrying a humongous tray to a table.

"Village hidden in the fricking _flowers_! What kind of name is that! No wonder this place doesn't prosper!" a man scoffed. He had sharp, pointy teeth and light hair. And a big gigantic sword that reminded him of Kisame-sama's.

"It doesn't matter." The man who looked like Christo's father said. "The most important thing is information."

"Yes, about Akatsuki-oh look, the boy's brought the food." The woman with glasses said.

All four of them turned around. Christo felt intimidated again.

"Sorry for staring!" he apologized. He dropped the tray on the table and it landed with a heavy thunk! noise.

The man-who-looked-like-Father's gaze was really disturbing. Christo scurried away. He hoped to never see them again.

But he did, later at night. He had to deliver another tray again.

This time, they were deep in conversation.

"So who else is in Akatsuki? How the hell should I know!" pointy-teeth grumbled.

"Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Tobi, and who else?" the woman paused for a minute.

"Zetsu-sama and Hidan-sama and Kazuzu-sama. And Sasori-sama who died." Christo said in a matter-of-fact voice and put the tray on the table.

"That's right. But who's Zetsu?" the woman mused. All of them nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, their heads swiveled in Christo's direction. Christo, who was leaving, was frightened to hear, "Hey, come back!"

With dread pounding through his heart, Christo shuffled his feet towards the four again. "Y-Y-Yes?"

"How do you know so much about Akatsuki?' pointy-teeth demanded. "Tell us or we'll run you through!"

"Suigetsu!" another man snapped. "Don't be so mean!"

"Shaddup, Juugo." Suigetsu snapped right back.

"Ignore them." The woman smiled, but Christo didn't find it very comforting. "My name is Karin. What's yours?"

Christo was too terrified to look up. "Christo." he mumbled.

"How do you know so much about Akatsuki? Don't be shy now!" Karin probed with that horrifying smile of hers. Christo was getting even more freaked out.

"Um, my father is in Akatsuki, and I used to live there." Christo whispered. He still avoided eye contact.

"Ah. Well, would you know the way there?"

Christo nodded. "Uh-huh. I runned away from there."

"I say we knock him out, kidnap him, and take him with us!" Suigetsu declared.

"Christo." The dark-haired man spoke for the first time. "My name is Sasuke. I need you to help us. Can you do that?"

Christo nodded. Even the voice was eerily similar to Father's.

"Will your sister let you help us?" Sasuke asked.

Christo replied with a, "She's not my sister! I can do whatever I want whenever I want! Mother's dead and I want Father dead so nobody take care of me except for myself!"

Sasuke smiled. "You want your father dead? Whoever he is, I'll probably kill him. If you show us the way, that is."

Christo hesitated, and then nodded. "Okay!"

"Sasuke." Juugo interrupted. "The kid's only a…well…a kid. You can't possibly take him from his friends and-"

Christo made a decision. "Doesn't matter. The only people I like are Una and Amie. Besides, revenge is more important? Right?"

Sasuke inwardly smiled. "Right. I'm glad you see things my way, Christo. Let's leave now."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Jooyeon was scared. Very, very, very scared.

She'd been constantly supervised by her father now, or at least Kisame. They'd been really mean to her, and they'd forced her to tell them all the plans she and the others made together.

Jooyeon wished she was a little stronger, then they wouldn't be here. She was the only one who was captured during their great escape, she thought bitterly. And Father held a grudge against her now.

"You're the weakest out of all of them," he said in a cold voice. "You were the failure, the one who didn't escape."

It was true. When they had kunai practice back in captivity, it was Jooyeon who always hit bulls-eye last. During chakra training, Jooyeon had the shakiest control. During the "maze games" it was Jooyeon who was usually last to get out.

She was sick of it, being last. And she hated, hated, hated the Akatsuki and Father for what he did. Jooeyeon Uchiha would escape.

She told the others, and it was Yuri, mostly Yuri, who thought up of the plan. Yuri was smart, really smart. All of them were, but Yuri was always the smartest and strongest.

During one of the "maze games" it was Yuki who exploded the maze. And it was Jongo who knocked out the guards. And it was Christo who found the path out. She, Jooyeon, hadn't really contributed.

They were running away, but shortly after, someone was on their trail. They split up and agreed to meet in Konoha, where their father was from. But during the chase, Jooyeon was caught.

It made her mad!

Why was it her who was the weak one! It wasn't fair! Why didn't the others come back for her? Didn't they _care_?

Jooeyeon felt like murdering all of them, Father, Yuri, Yuki, Christo, Jongo, and everyone in the Akatsuki.


	4. Training!

**Special thanks to my first reviewer ever, FlashDragon! Thanks for the encouragement, I worried my story would suck.**

4. Training!

Yuri was still stubborn. "Academy? Don't wanna go!"

"But, Yuri, don't you want to become a strong shinobi?" Naruto asked gently. (accompanied by the usual pat on the head.)

"NO!" Yuri said stubbornly. She stomped her foot on the floor. "I wanna stay with Naruto!"

Naruto sighed. The girl was so stubborn! But he had to get her to the Ninja Academy. Tsunade herself had said so.

"We'll just go there to visit then, all right? Visit." Naruto said, trying to sound innocent.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Yuri snarled.

Naruto felt like dying. How would he get the four-year-old to the Academy? She was sort of young, but a few simple tests had revealed she had to at least be on the level of the graduating class.

"Fine, just try it out for one day? Please?" Naruto wheedled.

Yuri thought for a minute and then decided. "Fine. But if I don't like it, I'm never going there again!"

Was this how he was when he was a little kid? If he was, he would apologize to everyone. That's what Naruto thought. Starting with Iruka, all the way to Ero-sennin.

"Hurry up and change out of your pajamas." Naruto told her.

Both of them had eaten breakfast in sleepwear. They always did. Breakfast was pretty much the first thing that they did in the morning. Naruto taught Yuri about "nutrition" Which meant three meals a day, usually ramen. He made sure that half the time ramen for Yuri had some leeks or some type of veggie in it, she needed it.

Kakashi and Sakura told him not to feed her ramen everyday. She'll never grow, they said. Naruto didn't believe that; just look how tall he was now! He liked his new growth spurt over the time with ero-sennin, and was positive that Yuri would sprout up one day.

"Naruto?" Yuri asked, tugging on his arm. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, you do." he told her. She was ready now, hair brushed, clothes changed, shower taken, teeth cleaned.

"Nani says NO!" Yuri shouted. She stomped her foot yet again and shook Nani to emphasize her point.

"Nani wants to go." Naruto told her. "So you hustle on over there this instant."

Yuri's face looked sour and angry. It looked familiar, yet again. She stomped her foot a few more times to express her anger, grabbed Nani and her backpack, and ran outside towards the direction of the Academy.

Naruto heard a faint "Liar! Nani doesn't wanna go!" after a few minutes.

Naruto sighed. Taking care of the stubborn, loud, pig-headed girl was a full-time job. He was glad that she was going to the Ninja Academy now, that would keep her busy for a while.

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"So, Christo, how much do you know about being a ninja?" Sasuke asked one day.

The group was walking toward the direction Christo had been leading them for the past few days. They had made good progress, and were getting farther away from the Village Hidden in the Flowers. (Which still isn't a good name.)

"Only how much Mother and Father taught me." Christo answered.

Christo felt a little troubled. Should he have left Amie? Was it all worth it all for some revenge?

"It's worth it." Sasuke said quietly.

Christo looked up, startled. "How did you know what I was thinking about." he accused.

Sasuke's eyes glazed over slightly. "I went through some of the same things that you did. But let assure it'll be worth it in the end."

"You left someone, too?" Christo asked.

"Yes. Yes, I did."

The other members of Team Hebi were a little bit confused. What on Earth were they talking about? But of course, they didn't say anything.

"So, how much did your parents teach you?" Sasuke asked curtly.

"Dunno. A little, I always thinks, but I thinks I was better than the other genins."

"You are good for such a young age." Sasuke continued. "And I think that I'll personally oversee your training. You can be useful to me."

"Okay."

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"You graduated." Naruto repeated in that same strained voice.

Yuri nodded. "Yes, I told you! Me and Nani were so good that we graduated!"

Nani's head drooped slightly when Yuri said that.

"No one is that good." Naruto shook his head, as if that could deny the statement. "No one can graduate after one day, especially a little four-year-old."

"But I did! 'Ruka-sensei said that I was the best student he'd ever seen! He gave me a headband. Look!"

Yuri waved a Leaf headband in front of Naruto's nose.

"So…you're a…genin?" Naruto pronounced the words slowly and carefully.

"Yup! But I don't want to be put in a three-man squad. Wanna be with Naruto!"

"Yuri, I'll be really busy." Naruto started to say, but tears started leaking out of her eyes.

"I-I just wanna-" a big sniff, "be with Naruto." another sob.

"Aw, don't cry." Naruto murmured awkwardly, and patted her gently on the head again. But then again, he didn't see the big smirk Yuki had on her face when she turned around.

"So? Be with Naruto?" Yuri asked.

Naruto thought for a minute. The gears in his brain were moving. ("Finally!" Sakura would say.) In other words, he had an idea.

"Hey, Yuri. Would you like me to teach you a few tricks?" Naruto asked.

Yuri's eyes widened even more, and she nodded.

"Good. Let's go in the forest." Naruto opened the door to his apartment for Yuri. They both went out.

"What you gonna teach me?" Yuri squealed in an excited voice.

"Well, it's called the Kage Bushin…"

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Jooeyon cried out in pain. It hurt! It hurt! It hurt! It hurt!

Suddenly, the pain stopped. Jooyeon was sweat-stricken and was on the floor. She flexed her fingers they were all right. Her entire body was all right. Relief.

"You are still weak. You must learn to resist Tsukiyomi." Itachi said.

Jooyeon was still breathing hard. "Please, I don't want to. Please, no more."

"Do you not want to become a good ninja? You must learn to _resist!_ Not only to strengthen your sharingan, but also to counter all other attacks and withstand pain."

"Uh." Jooyeon's hand slid down to her stomach. Still intact. Good.

Itachi frowned. "Are you really that pitifully weak? I wish I had one of your other siblings. They would be far more valuable."

"I-I thought that we were here to search for them. If they got here at all." Jooeyeon managed to say. She glanced fearfully at her father for a quick second, but he didn't seem angry at all.

"Yes. But I think I should leave them alone for the time being. I want to see them make their own progress, and then take them back. Also, we have no guarantee of them being here." Itachi answered coolly. "Right now, what is more important is _your_ progress."

"I don't want to make progress." Jooyeon squeaked. "I'd rather be in Konoha, living an ordinary life."

It was a single, swift movement of the hand, too fast for the ordinary eye to see. A hard slap that sent the little girl flying into a tall tree.

"Such weak thoughts." Itachi sneered, approaching Jooyeon.

Jooyeon was scared of what her father would do now. She rubbed the red spot on her cheek. A trickle of blood started dripping from it. When she pulled her hand away, it was red and sticky with the blood.

And she hated blood.

"You are nothing more than my slave. An extension of my flesh. One of my arms, who shall faithfully serve me, even if it means death." Itachi hissed.

"Please. Please, no." Jooyeon whispered. She tried to back away.

"Tsukiyomi!"

And now she was back, back in the creepy world her father had made just for her. Where her mother was alive again, and cutting her into tiny bits. Her fingers first, and then her arms and legs. Jooyeon knew what would happen next. Her mother would stab a hole into her stomach and chop off her head. Then she would wake up. And then Father would do it over and over and over until she could finally resist. But that would take a very, very long time.

Itachi calmly listened to the poor girl's screams.

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"So you wanted to talk with me?" Yuri asked.

"Yes. Please sit." Kakashi motioned to the chair in front of him. They were both in a darkish room at night. There were not windows. It was an interrogation room, meant to scare people. Yuri wasn't scared, only excited. She wanted to try out her newest jutsu, but Kakashi had told her not to.

Yuri sat.

"I need to ask you a few questions. Can you answer them for me as best as possible?" Kakashi said in an attempted nice voice, but it still sounded the same.

"Yes." Yuri replied cheerfully. She hugged Nani even closer.

"What do you know about your father? I mean his secrets?" Kakashi shot off the first question. Maybe this girl had hard to get information on the famous S-ranked criminal.

"Um, Daddy's name was Itachi Uchiha. He had a partner, Kisame-sama. Kisame-sama was a fishy, though. I never told him that because his sword was a little scary." Yuri told him proudly.

"Uh-huh." Damn, this a lot harder than Kakashi thought it would be. Interrogating four-year-old REALLY sucked. Shouldn't Ibiki be doing this? Oh yeah, he would psychologically torture and mentally scar her. "Can you tell me about your siblings? Their names, where they're from, when you last saw them, where you think they are. That kind of stuff?"

"Their names are Yuki, Christo, Jooyeon, and Jongo. I'm the oldest. Christo is from the Village Hidden in the Flowers, but that's all I know. Jooyeon's mom wasn't a ninja, though. And I last saw them a long time ago, don't remember when. I used to think they were here, but not anymore, because they're not. Can I show you my clones now?" Yuri said this all in a very fast voice.

Kakashi wanted to tear his hair out. Then a new idea occurred to him.

"Can you use sharingan?"

"Yup. All five of us can. Daddy forced it out. Why?" Yuri noticed the chair was too big for her and Nani, and so she swung her feet back and forth very fast.

"Good. Now, I want you to bring it out." Kakashi said.

Yuri lifted up her head. There certainly was the sharingan, but with two curvy pupils instead of the three he had. She could use some sharingan training.

But not right now.

"Would you die to protect the village?" Kakashi asked bluntly. It would do no good to have another Sasuke on his hands.

Yuri lifted up her big red orbs at Kakashi's own. "You know what? I don't know. Father always said we were extensions of his flesh, and we should serve him faithfully even if it meant our deaths. But this place isn't like that. And…" Yuri trailed off.

Finally, after a long pause, she said, "Did anyone close to you ever die?

Kakashi was taken aback at this question. "Yes."

"My mommy died. And it was the saddest day of my entire life. But I like this village as much as I loved my mommy." Yuri lifted her blazing eyes down and deactivated her sharingan. "And Naruto-sensei says that if you want to protect a precious person, that's what makes you strong."

Kakashi smiled. This girl was different from her father and uncle.

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Sasuke was surprised by Christo's big jumps. He had proved he already knew certain jutsus like the Great Fireball, which was what many members of the Uchiha clan had known. Right now, Christo was learning about chakra control.

"Sasuke, it's really hard." Christo complained. He had already mastered the walking on trees technique. It was walking on water he had trouble with it.

"Try again. Concentrate on gathering your chakra." Sasuke said in a mild, amused voice.

Christo nodded and went back in the water. After ten shaky steps, he fell into the water. Gasping, he popped back up and announced, "Ten! A new record!"

Sasuke had taken a liking to Christo. Not only was he an excellent ninja (and maybe a faithful servant one day), but an adorable little boy who reminded him of his own childhood.

"Good job." Sasuke semi-smiled. "Now try harder. If you don't get twenty steps by the end of the hour, you will have no dinner."

Christo glared at Sasuke and mumbled something like, "Slave driver."

"What was that?"

"Oh. Nothing." Christo gave a fake, brittle smile. "Hey, you want revenge, too, right? Against who? And why?"

Sasuke sighed. "Fine, very well. My brother. Without any sign of remorse, he murdered our entire family in cold blood."

Christo didn't know what "remorse" meant, but he understood the rest. "Me, too, Sasuke! My father killed everyone! My mother, aunts, uncles, and cousins!"

Sasuke looked at the endless, blue sky. Then he stared at Christo for a few moments.

"We are alike then." Sasuke said.

"Revenge is all!" Christo shouted. It was his new slogan, and Sasuke full-heartedly agreed with him.

"Continue walking on the water. Five of your minutes have passed." Sasuke said abruptly.

Christo frowned and grumbled, but started taking a few, careful steps on the water.

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Itachi, Kisame, and Jooyeon were all sitting around a campfire. Kisame looked back and forth between the other two for a while. Something seemed wrong, but in the end, he just ignored it. Itachi had the same cool face on. His "extension of flesh" was visibly shaken and traumatized.

Jooyeon checked her fingers again. She wiggled each of them again. They were all okay, but she couldn't help but worry. Her father's ultimate punishment had been tested on her so that she could get stronger. Finally, several hours and many tries later, she managed to resist for a few minutes. After even more time, she finally managed to resist all the way to half an hour.

"The brat's improved. Eh, Itachi?" Kisame grunted.

"Yes. I suppose so." Itachi replied in an expressionless voice. He stole a quick glance at his daughter, who was shivering uncontrollably, despite the fact they were next to a fire. "Ye, she has improved."

"Why do you want your kids so bad, Itachi? Why did you have them in the first place? And why five?" Kisame had finally mustered up the courage to ask.

Itachi frowned. "Family reasons. I didn't want the clan to die out. I left my brother alive so that he could revive the clan, but it is now obvious now that fool of my brother is only fixated on revenge. And there also is another reason."

"What is that?" Kisame asked.

Itachi told him. Jooyeon listened closely. After Itachi was finished and Kisame was satisfied, a hot rage burned in the pit of Jooyeon's heart.

He is right. I am just an extension of his flesh. But one who will turn against him! Jooyeon vowed.


	5. Itachi and Yuri

**5. Itachi and Yuri**

Yuri yawned and got up. She had a bad feeling about today, a really bad feeling. And usually her "feelings" were correct.

It was really early, still five in the morning. Yuri tiptoed over to Naruto's room, opened the door, and peeked in. There was her beloved Naruto-sensei, snoring away. Pretty heavy sleeper, no?

Yuri was still in her bright, gaudy orange pajamas. (Her nightwear was specially picked out by you know who.) She quickly got ready for the day. (Naruto still did not wake up, despite the fact she had turned on the shower to full blast.)

While selecting her clothes, Yuri frowned. Then she picked the darkest colors she had, the way both Mommy and Daddy would dress her. She looked better in darker clothes anyways. That's what everyone said.

Yuri was still in a weird mood. She did not eat breakfast or wake up Naruto. Instead, she grabbed Nani and went outside.

Sometimes she'd go outside without Naruto-sensei or Nani-chan. Just by herself on the roof. There, she would think about her parents and brothers and sisters.

But right now, she didn't want to go to the roof. She wanted to go train in the forest.

Yuri hesitated, and then went back inside. She got a pen and a piece of paper, and scrawled on it, _Dear Naruto-sensei. Wentt traineeng in forest. Love, Yuri._

She made sure to spell the words correctly, but she still wasn't sure if all of them were spelled right. Her mother taught her how to read and write at a young age, and even after she had died, Yuri had dutifully practiced in her mother's memory. She had also taught the others in turn.

Yuri took one last look at Naruto's sleeping form, and then walked out of the door. Her bad feeling worsened. It was starting to make her stomach hurt. But of course, she ignored it.

She shouldn't have.

Yuri liked Konoha Forest a lot for some reason, thus she trained there a lot. Naruto-sensei had told her she was an excellent shinobi, but she didn't care. All she wanted was his approval.

This place was one of her favorites, a small clearing surrounded by tall trees. Pine needles fell and made a small, thin layer on the ground. It was pretty. Naruto-sensei had pinned up targets on the trees for shuriken practice, and nobody ever disturbed her accidentally. It was perfect.

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Jooyeon was by herself for the first time ever since The Great Uchiha Escape.

She was surprised her father had left her. But then, he expected her to be weak from the Tsukiyomi training from the previous day. But she wasn't, because it really hadn't affected her chakra in any way. It was just her mind that was affected, but Jooyeon was tough, and held onto her sanity and wits.

Itachi and Kisame had left on a "recon trip." Jooyeon didn't know or care what that meant. Because it meant she was alone, which provided another escape opportunity.

Jooyeon spent about an hour debating when she should go, where, and what she would do if she was caught. But the worrying was taking too much time, so she set off in a random direction. Which had lead her into this big, confusing forest place.

She was hopelessly lost, but wasn't as worried as she should be. She was blissful, Her father was gone! She could escape! Jooyeon was so happy daydreaming that she didn't hear the noises at first.

The sound of shuriken being thrown,

At first, Jooyeon thought it was her father, who was going to kill her because she tried to escape again. So she ducked and held her breath, waiting for the blackness of death to come. Then she listened closely and realized the noise was farther away, and not directed at her at all.

She was curious and excited. Maybe it was someone who would point the way to Konohagakure! So she listened closely and followed the noise.

_Whup! Whup! Whup!_

"Oh, darn!" a vibrant little voice cried out. "I was so close that time, too!"

The voice chilled Jooyeon to the bone. It sounded so familiar. Was it…? Could it be…? No! Yuri wouldn't be having so much fun while her own sister had suffered so much!

Jooyeon cautiously peeked behind the biggest tree she could find. And she was right. It was her damn sister, Yuri, doing shuriken practice.

_Whup! Whup! Whup!_

"Yay, bulls-eye on all three!" Yuri exclaimed jubilantly. She jumped up in joy.

Jooyeon's heart filled with hate, fury, and a desire to kill. Here she was. Yuri. The smart, responsible sister who had left her to Father's cruelty.

Not only that, Yuri looked fine. She looked great! The girl wasn't as scrawny anymore and was wearing clean, new clothes. She had got a haircut, so her hair was shorter and neater, and her faced brimmed with happiness.

Hate.

Jooyeon activated her three tomoe sharingan and stepped out from behind the tree. At first, Yuri didn't notice, but she stopped and swiveled sharply toward Jooyeon's direction. She saw her and gasped.

"Jooyeon! You're here!" Yuri squealed in delight.

Even more hate flooded through Jooyeon's heart. Now Yuri was putting on a happy act, she thought bitterly.

"It's good you're here! Now you can live with me and-"

"You left me." Jooyeon stated simply. Then suddenly rage filled her newly trembling voice. "You left me! I hate you, sister! Father caught me that day, the day we escaped, and he tortured me ever since! And you! You never came back for me!"

Yuri's eyes widened under the accusations. "Jooyeon, it wasn't like that. I never-"

"Don't make up excuses!" Jooyeon shouted and lunged towards Yuri. Her black eyes became even wider in even more surprise.

Jooyeon got out a kunai and attempted to slash her with it, but Yuri quickly got out another kunai and deflected it.

"Jooyeon, please!" Yuri begged. Jooyeon ignored Yuri's pleading voice and made another slash, which Yuri deflected yet again.

It was a battle of kunais for the first five minutes. Yuri didn't even try to attack, just kept blocking and pleading for Jooyeon to understand. Jooyeon attacked savagely and fiercely without no thought of mercy.

Then Jooyeon understood her errors. She drew her kunai back and made a bunch of hand seals.

Yuri immediately saw the danger. She jumped out of the way of Jooyeon's Great Fireball Jutsu. She noticed how much bigger it had gotten since the last time, even a little bigger than her own.

Yuri activated sharingan just in case. Still, it was more underdeveloped than Jooyeon's, and she knew it was weaker.

Jooyeon knew, too. "No use!" she hissed.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Yuri cried out. To save her chakra for later, she had created only five shadow clones.

"That'll do no good!" Jooyeon yelled in delight. She mimicked Yuri's hand seals. Only too late had Yuri realized Jooyeon could copy her moves with her sharingan.

The six Yuris merely dodged the six Jooyeon's attacks. They made no effort to really hurt her. Jooyeon fought to kill.

That was Yuri's main error. She should've at least tried to injure the other four-year-old girl. Because two of the clones fell before the real Yuri did.

It was a stroke of pure luck. Yuri had deactivated her sharingan, hoping that would let Jooyeon see her intentions, but that was another mistake. Jooyeon's fast fist connected with Yuri's stomach. Yuri fell to the ground, a long fall.

A kunai missed her neck by a hair. Yuri pulled it out of the ground. It had grazed her neck, actually, and a small trickle of blood was leaking out. Yuri pulled the offending kunai out of the ground.

But that was the last thing she did before losing consciousness.

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When Naruto woke up, he had noticed Yuri was gone. After he found the note stuck to the fridge, the initial panic faded.

He started worrying at breakfast time. During one of her infrequent trips outside, she usually came home roughly during the time the next meal was. But now she wasn't. The panic started again, and Naruto left the two bowls of ramen on the table and left.

He knew where to go. Her favorite training spot, that little clearing. He had changed it a little, added targets and dummies for practice. She had loved it, and jumped up and down in joy while squealing, "Thank you, Naruto-sensei!" the whole time. That girl could be adorable sometimes.

Naruto got there pretty quickly. He was surprised to not here the usual sound of weapons being thrown. And something was wrong. Some of the branches of the trees were horribly damaged and splintered into tiny bits, and Yuri's favorite place in the forest was messed up and dirty. That wasn't like Yuri. She would at least clean up.

That small feeling of dread he had grew larger as he followed the path of the fallen trees. It took about a minute for him to get to where Yuri was.

And she wasn't alone. There was another girl who looked about the same age as Yuri who had a kunai at Yuri's throat. The girl's hand shook and there was an wild, insane look in her eyes as she drew the kunai back to strike.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Naruto yelled, stepping foward. "What have done to Yuri!"

The gril looked up with wild eyes. "Stay away! None of your business!"

"Yuri!" Naruto yelled. "Yuri!"

Yuri did not stir, even as the girl's kunai was starting to pierce her skin, a few beads of blood forming on her neck.

"Whoever the hell you are, stay away from Yuri!" Naruto yelled even louder, trying his best to sound assertive.

"I can't! I must kill her!" she shouted back in an almost desperate voice, and her shaky hand made a deeper cut on Yuri's throat.

Naruto saw it was hopeless to keep on yelling at her, so he tried reasoning with her. "Who are you and what are you doing?" he asked in a forced calm voice.

The girl's hand shook even more. "My name is Jooyeon, and I'm going to kill Yuri!"

"How old are you? Five? And what has Yuri ever done to you?" Naruto continued in his calm voice. Inside, he was panicking.

"I'm four! And Yuri deserves to die! She and the others never came back, never came back for me! They left me with Father!" Jooyeon rocked back and forth "Especially Yuri! Yuri was the oldest, my big sister! She should've protected me!"

"Sister?" Naruto was thrown off a moment. Yuri's sister? He vaguely remembered Yuri saying she had three brothers and a sister, but he had merely dismissed that statement at the moment. And why would Yuri's own sister want to kill her?

"Yes, sister! Yuri used to be-I mean Yuri was my favorite." Tears started spilling out of Jooyeon's eyes. "She was always the leader. But then, everyone left, and then I got caught by Father and had to suffer everyday."

Naruto remembered Yuri's nightmares, where her own father killed her mother. Could this be the same tyrant Yuri talked about?

Naruto decided to act. He would take the sobbing, rocking Jooyeon by surprise and tackle her to the ground. As he was about to spring himself, a familiar voice overhead said, "Yuri? Jooyeon? What are you doing here?"

It was him. Itachi. Sasuke's brother, S-rank missing-nin, Akatsuki member, murderer. He had the same bored look on his face, one that frustrated Naruto.

"Itachi!" Naruto yelled the same time Jooyeon shrieked, "Father!"

Naruto's next thought was like this: Father???????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Jooyeon, what are you doing? Remove that kunai at once." Itachi commanded in a monotone voice.

Reluctantly, Jooyeon's shaking hand slowly removed the slightly bloody kunai from Yuri's throat and tossed it away. It landed with a thunk near Naruto's feet.

Itachi jumped down from the tree. He quickly inspected the scene, and then visibly relaxed.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto demanded. "Are you here for me? Or Yuri?"

"The latter." Itachi replied. He bent down and picked up the unconscious girl. "I've been looking for my other children. They all ran away, you see, except for Jooyeon."

"Put Yuri down now." Naruto said in his forced calm voice again.

"No, I don't think I will." Itachi looked down at Yuri. "My, she's grown so much! I hope she remembers her dear father."

"You're not her dear father!" Naruto insisted.

"Well, I am her father at least." Itachi sniffed. "Surprised that I could have fathered such a sweet, innocent, naïve child? Yuri has been my personal favorite, she's the oldest, you see. And the mother was quite pretty."

"You killed her mother!" Naruto couldn't get over the fact that _Itachi_ was _his_ Yuri's tyrannical father.

"I had to. It was necessary training. Her life was in danger then, and it brought out her sharingan. Of course, she was always a little stubborn, so I had to cut her arms to really force it out." Itachi explained slowly, as if Naruto was an idiot. "I'm so glad you took a fondness to my little Yuri. We must leave now, but I can assure you, if you behave well when we capture you, you'll be able to see her again."

Fury finally exploded and Kyubbi was starting to take over Naruto. His whiskers changed and his eyes started turning red.

Itachi merely did a simple, one-hand genjutsu on Naruto. Which caused Naruto to start losing consciousness. (The same genjutsu Kabuto used during the Invasion of Konoha where he made everyone in the Konoha fall asleep.)

"That was much too simple." Itachi sighed. "How boring. At least Naruto could be more entertaining."

Jooyeon was quivering in anger, which he saw but ignored. That little girl was too annoying, he thought. Jooyeon was his least favorite offspring, for a variety of reasons.

"Let us go, Jooyeon." Itachi said, and motioned for her to follow.

"Will you punish me?" Jooyeon squeaked out. Foolish little girl, revealing her weakness just like that.

"Perhaps. I must think upon it." Itachi answered. Fear entered Jooyeon's eyes. But as he said that, Yuri stirred in his arms. She was about to awaken.

"Now. Quickly. Let's go." Itachi said, and he turned in the other direction and jumped. Jooyeon followed, but not before throwing a hesitating glance in Naruto's direction.

**This was a rush job, and I might have made some mistakes. Christo and Sasuke don't come out in this chapter at all, but they will in the next one.**


	6. Yuki

6. Yuki

_blood blood blood messy everywhere and daddy angry oh no he take kunai slash slash into arms mommy not moving and blood blood and more blood and scream bad bad arms bleeding hurts a lot why mommy not move bad blood bad bad blood blood_

Yuri woke up screaming again. This was the third time she had the nightmare in her entire four years. The first time was three nights right after it had happened, when her scars were still fresh. The second time was with Naruto-sensei. The third time was now.

Yuri looked around, confused. Where was she? Why wasn't she on her comfty couch with Nani in her arms? Where was the orange teddy bear anyways?

Then it all came back. Going to the training area, meeting and fighting Jooyeon, pulling the kunai out of the ground, going dizzy and falling into darkness. But how did she get here? Why was she still alive?

Yuri's eyes focused and assessed her surroundings. She was in a foresty area, but if it was a part of Konoha forest, she didn't recognize it at all. And there was Jooyeon and Father. Father was staring into the sky. Jooyeon was glaring at her hatefully.

Daddy. Father. Murderer. He was here. Yuri hadn't seen him since their escape. And she had hoped it would be that way.

Feelings flooded through the girl, and she recognized him. Yuri was very mature for her age, so she understood feelings a hell of a lot better. (Wouldn't you be if you saw your mom murdered by your father, spent a hellish time with him, and then was on the run for a long time afterwards?) There was fear, nervousness, surprise, hate, and…fondness?

Yuri was too horrified at the last one. Fondness? Love? Why would she love _him_, the murderer?

"You are awake." Itachi said. He was still staring into the sky.

"I-I-It-t-tachi." Yuri managed to say.

"Hello, Yuri. I'm quite upset that you didn't call me Father." Itachi said in the same voice.

Jooyeon's left eye twitched slightly. It was just like Father to treat Yuri the favorite this nicely. If she had lost a battle, become unconscious, and called him Itachi instead of Father or Master, he would've punished her. But oh-so-precious Yuri got off because she was who she was, freakin' perfect Yuri.

"Two out of five. Not bad. Not bad." Itachi continued on. "I have both my daughters. Now I must find all three of my sons."

"You'll never get them!" Yuri blurted out. "Never!"

"On the contrary, I will." Itachi replied.

Another eye twitch from Jooyeon. If she had said that, and not Yuri, she would be Tsukiyomi'd for her impertinence.

Itachi bestowed one of his extremely rare smiles upon Yuri. "Now, daughter. Let us leave. Kisame is waiting for us."

Then Yuri realized with a sickening jolt why she felt at least some measure of affection for Itachi. He would always be her father no matter what.

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Sometimes, the other members of Team Hebi wondered why Sasuke dragged along such a puny, impudent little brat around with him. No, they wondered all the time.

Christo was only four years old! Sure, he knew the location of Akatsuki, which was extremely far away, but why did Sasuke pay so much attention to the runt? Training him, too! Sasuke never glared at the boy. He never yelled at the boy. He even smiled at him once! And what about those frequent breaks Sasuke would decide they would take because Christo looked a little tired and/or sleepy?

Sasuke also invented a bunch of annoying rules they had to follow. No swearing. No fighting for no reason. No "references to sexual themes." And if any of them broke the rules in front of Christo, Sasuke would have a "talk" with them.

Suigetsu plotted to murder the boy, but stopped when Sasuke overheard him. (Sasuke "talked" with him again after that incident.) Juugo had went on one of his rampages once, but Sasuke stopped him very quickly. (Another "talk" with Juugo.) Karin had been extremely careful, but she knew sooner or later she would slip. (And earn a "talk.")

And the most important rule was that they were not even allowed to mention the "talks" to Chisto. Kind of ironic.

Meanwhile, Christo was being rigorously trained by Sasuke. Now that he had mastered the walk on water, Sasuke had introduced him to a new level of taijutsu and fire jutsus, which he was learning quickly. Not only that, but Christo's shuriken level had taken enormous leaps. Christo was in no hurry to leave Sasuke, and Sasuke didn't want to abandon Christo, even after he showed him to the Akatsuki.

Sasuke felt it was necessary to teach Christo about revenge. So he did. He hammered his morals into the kid, and Christo accepted them with enthusiasm.

Sometimes, Sasuke himself wondered why he was so fond of the kid. Sure he would be a powerful ally when he got older, but still, why him?

Twice, Sasuke could've sworn Christo looked exactly like him when he was four. But of course, both times it was a trick of the light. Or so he thought.

"When are we going to stop and eat, Sasuke?" Christo asked.

"Soon." Sasuke answered abruptly.

"Good." Christo nodded.

"But I'm not-" Karin started to say, but Sasuke interrupted her with a look that definitely said something along the lines of, "Do you want to have another talk?"

Suddenly, Sasuke froze. They were in the outskirts of another small ninja village that obviously got nowhere. Nothing special. But Sasuke seemed petrified.

"What is it?" Karin demanded.

Christo peeked behind Sasuke. It was only an old guy with white hair. And he wasn't even looking in this direction.

"Damn it. It's Jiraiya, one of the three sannin." Suigetsu hissed.

Sasuke turned around and glared. "Damn? Don't say that! Do you want to have another little talk?"

Suigetsu shook his head.

"Good." Sasuke hesitated before saying. "Okay, let's all disappear. Except for you, Christo. I need you to go talk to him, find out if he knows anything."

"Yes, sir!" Christo barked. He always followed Sasuke's commands with a sort of religious fervor.

Christo sped off to Jiraiya, and Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo all turned around accusingly to Sasuke.

"Why did you just send Christo out?" Karin and Suigetsu said at the same time. Then they both looked mortified that they were even thinking the same thing.

"He's only a little boy. The old guy won't suspect anything suspicious." Sasuke replied. And he hoped that Jiraiya wouldn't find him. He was Naruto's old teacher after all, and from Konoha. "You guys leave now, one mile south. I'll stay here."

They grumbled but listened to their leader and left.

Meanwhile, Christo had walked up to Jiraiya. Then he tugged on Jiraiya's arm to get his attention.

"What!" Jiraiya snapped when he saw it was only a little boy.

"How much do you know about Akatsuki?" Christo asked in an innocent voice.

Jiraiya sputtered with surprise. This harmless little thing was asking him, the famous, powerful warrior about top-secret information on a dangerous criminal organization. That's they way Jiraiya thought of it.

"What? Akatsuki?" Jiraiya finally managed to say.

"Yes! Akatsuki! Tell me!" Christo whined.

"No! And how do you know about Akatsuki?" Jiraiya demanded as he rounded up on Christo. Was this boy really a genjutsu trap?

"Hey! Lemme go!" Christo shouted and squirmed as Jiraiya picked him up.

Christo tried to kick him, but missed. Then he bit him, but the man didn't react. Christo was getting really annoyed.

"Tell me kid, how much do you know about Akatsuki." Jiraiya frowned.

"My father is in Akatsuki and! Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!" Christo screamed this very loudly so that some people nearby heard.

"What do you know about Akatsuki?" Jiraiya demanded and gave the boy a big shake. "Surely, if you are the son of a member, you should know!"

Sasuke had watched this whole scene. He was gladthat he already sent the rest of Hebi away. He suppressed a groan as he watched the scene. Couldn't the boy be more subtle? Now he stepped forward to save Christo.

Jiraiya's frown deepened. "Your father is Itachi. You look just like him, and he's in Akatsuki."

"So what!" Christo yelled and swiped after Jiraiya again.

Sasuke froze for the second time that day.

Christo, the boy he'd come to actually care for, was Itachi's son.

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"Relax, Naruto." Sakura said in a soothing voice. "You'll never heal properly if you don't."

"Didn't you hear what I said? Yuri is Itachi's child! Yuri! The little innocent girl! And now she's been kidnapped by that bastard!" Naruto spat out.

"You heard Sakura. Relax."

Naruto and Sakura both looked up at the voice. The hospital door had opened and closed and someone stepped in. It was Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei! Yuri was kidnapped by Itachi!" Naruto flung the sheets on his bed to the other side of the room. "We gotta rescue her!"

"Shh, you're disturbing all the other patients." Kakashi immediately scolded. Then he sat down on a chair near Naruto's bed. "And, yes I know."

"Know about being Yuri being kidnapped or Itachi being Yuri's father?" Sakura asked. She had been in shock when Naruto had blurted that all out to her at first. But now she knew it was a time for action.

"Well, I was informed she was kidnapped and Naruto found unconscious by an ANBU who I met a minute ago. As for her father, I've known that for a while now." Kakashi braced for impact.

"YOU KNEW WHO HER FATHER WAS? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME! I COULD'VE PROTECTED HER BETTER THEN!" was heard throughout the hospital.

Kakashi leaned comfortably in his chair. He sighed. "Calm down. What's done is done. The problem is getting her back. And finding the others."

"The others?" Sakura timidly inquired.

"Yes. Her half-siblings, Itachi's other children." Kakashi said. "They're probably in big danger already."

"Her sister!" Naruto was getting more and more excited. In the bad way. "A girl named Jooyeon who said she was Yuri's sister was with Itachi!"

"One down. Three others remain. Who and where are they?" Kakashi's brow was furrowed by this distressing new problem.

"They might come to Konoha." Naruto mused. Then suddenly he shot up. "But what about Yuri?"

"We'll find her somehow." Kakashi assured. "I promise."

Suddenly, the door burst open. A frenzied looking woman came in. Naruto gulped when he recognized her. It was Mrs. Scary Nurse back when Yuri was in the hospital. Oh great.

"Don't shout! And you medicine? Where could it be? Ohhh……" the nurse said. And Naruto knew he was in deep, deep trouble. He had to run out of the hospital if he was to survive this insane nurse.

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Yuki Uchiha was here in Konoha! Finally!

Everything had been a blur since the escape. He had pinky-promised Yuri that they would meet here when the others hadn't been looking. They didn't want bad-tempered Jooyeon to burn with jealousy again.

Yuki looked around in awe. He had never seen a place like this in his life. Most of his life had been with his single mother in a little civilian town near the outskirts of Sunagakure. (The Sand Village, if you guys don't know.) And the remainder had been in the Akatsuki hideout or traveling, both with his father and siblings and by himself.

Yuki felt a lump in his throat. He had wanted to meet up with Yuri along the road badly, but hadn't. He missed everyone, but Yuri most of all. Smart, comforting Yuri. His favorite sister and sibling.

Where would he go now? Yuri didn't know what to do next now that he was here. Go to an orphanage? Find the others if they were here?

Suddenly, an orange blur passed by Yuki. He blinked, unsure of what he saw. Then a tired and insane looking nurse came, running and shouting, "Come back!"

Wow. Konoha was really a weird place.

Yuki tried his best not to think of the past. Especially his beloved mother's death. The lump in his throat got even bigger as he thought of his gentle, smiling mother, who was so unmercifully slaughtered for no reason.

Or his time with Father. He hated it. Especially the maze games. Father tried his best to rouse competition among the five siblings. The maze game was one of them. Nobody wanted to be last to get out of the maze because it meant a severe punishment. And it was usually Jooyeon.

Poor, poor Jooyeon. Yuki always felt a pang of sympathy whenever thinking about her. Jooyeon's mother never loved her. She always said that jealously whenever the others talked about their moms. Jooyeon was always starved for affection.

Yuki hated his life back then, the maze games, his mother's death, and the harmful training their father imposed. The only thing that got him through was his siblings. It was a comfort knowing there were other people suffering through the same agony.

Yuri did not talk. She never talked. She communicated through hand signs, writing, or mouthing words. (Sharingan could read mouths, so it was really easy for them to understand each other.) She showed them her scars, so they understood she had it worse than any of them. (Most of the time they were covered in plain white bandages.) But Yuri and Yuki were an inseparable pair. Even their names sounded alike.

Yuki felt a sharp pain. Oh no. Not now. He fell to the floor and started taking long deep breaths. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Just like the way Mother had taught him.

But he started gasping for breath, like a fish out of water. He tried to force his trembling hands to get his inhaler, but couldn't.

That was his major flaw. They all had one. Christo was fixated on revenge, Yuri didn't talk, Jooyeon became easily enraged, and Jongo hated to hurt people. But Yuki had the worst one, weak lungs.

And Yuki knew he would fade from consciousness soon if he didn't breathe correctly.

Suddenly, he felt his inhaler being jammed into his mouth. Yuki took two deep, greedy breaths before looking up at his savior. A pink haired teenage girl.

"Thanks." he whispered.

"Your welcome." the girl replied. "Do you need to go to a hospital?"

Yuki shook his head fiercely. Then he thought of something else. "No. I'm looking for someone, though. Can you help me find out where she is?"

Suddenly, an odd expression dawned on the girl's face. "My name is Sakura. What's yours?"

Yuki merely shrugged and ignored the question. "I'm looking for a girl the same age as me and who looks like me. Two girls and two other boys, to be exact. They're my brothers and sisters. We said we would meet up here. Do you know where to go to find out where they are?"

Sakura stared at the boy and then said. "You should come with me."

Yuki nodded and followed.

"Are the names of the girls Yuri and Jooyeon?" Sakura asked.

Yuki nodded again. "Then they're here?"

Sakura sighed. "You should come and see the hokage. Follow me."

**Yup, the end of another chapter. Finally, Yuki comes out! And yes, I took Yuki's name from Yuki from Fruits Basket. (They both have asthma attacks, you see.) Jongo and a certain someone else hasn't come out yet. And Sai (he was mentioned earlier just once, but never seen) will come out, if you guys are wondering, but much later. **

**I'm trying to update as fast as possible. I usually get one chapter finished everyday. However, don't expect it to pop up daily. Especially if school starts. **

**One last thing. Thank you for the reviews!**


	7. In Memory of Nani

7. In Memory of Nani

Itachi studied Yuri. At first glance, she looked incredibly like him. The same eyes, hair, skin, and nose. But she was also even more like Nani. She had Nani's lips, the same way the moved, the same way they smiled, and a hundred other small things.

Yuri was definitely Nani's daughter. The gullible girl, Nani had fallen madly in love with him. They had been fifteen then. They all were fifteen, Itachi and his children's mothers. But out of all of them, Nani stood out.

Those girls, they were so naïve and foolish. All five of them had assumed Itachi had loved them. They assumed wrong.

But Itachi had to admit, he didn't feel as annoyed by Nani as the others. He closed his eyes and remembered.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"My name is Nani Lim. What's yours?" the girl asked him, flashing a wide smile.

"Itachi." He had answered simply.

Itachi avoided looking at the girl. She was no doubt a simpering idiot, just like all the other girls who fell in love with him. But then when he thought of it, the girl could become useful. He wanted four children to suit his purposes. And although there were the others, this girl would do as well.

Itachi finally looked at her. She was not like the rest. It was her eyes, those eyes of hers. They had a certain…intensity. A depth to them.

He would use her after all.

"I'm not from around here." Itachi remarked casually. "Do you mind showing me around?"

Nani smiled and nodded. Foolish girl.

"This is a small village. The kind that never prospers." Nani sighed. But her voice was thick with resentment and bitterness. "The five main villages take horrible advantage over us smaller ones."

"You are a ninja?" Itachi asked as his eyes fell upon a headband with a small 1 marked on it. "Why a one?"

"It's kind of corny. The 1 stands for the fact that we're number one. Which we're not, obviously." Nani snorted.

So this girl had a brain. Made her even more desirable.

Eight months later 

Itachi came back and was pleased to see that Nani was pregnant. Maybe his child would have the same intensity in his or her eyes.

"Nani." Itachi said and she spun around.

They were in a pitiful garden, not like the ones back in Konoha that he was used to. Nani had been standing the whole time, probably daydreaming.

"Itachi." Nani snapped. Itachi was surprised. The other ones who were about to have children had been delighted to see him. Nani was different.

"It's been so long." Itachi stated. "You are pregnant. With my child?"

"Yes. Yes, I am." Nani sighed.

"Does anyone know who the father is?"

Nani fidgeted. "No. No. Nobody knows. They think it was some traveler passing by one day, and they are absolutely right on that."

Itachi nodded. "Seeing as I am from one of the five main villages, I think it would be wise not to ever let a anyone know."

Nani gasped. "You're right! They would despise her!"

"Her? Are you sure it will be a girl?" Itachi asked.

Nani tucked some of her brown stray hair behind her ear. "Quite sure. I can feel it. I will name her Nani, after me."

"Name her Mikoto." came out of Itachi's mouth before he could control it.

"Mikoto? Why Mikoto?" Nani had a skeptical voice.

"That was her grandmother's name." Itachi sighed. "My mother's. Never mind, name her…" Itachi paused and said the first name that popped up. "Yuri. Yuri Mikoto Uchiha."

"Yuri Mikoto Uchiha. Sounds good." Nani had a very thoughtful expression on her face. "Uchiha. That sounds familiar. Itachi? Where did you go?"

Itachi was nowhere to be seen. But really, he was hiding behind a tree.

Two months later 

Itachi watched the girl in amusement. She was a tiny thing, still unable to walk. She was asleep, but her fingers curled and uncurled slightly at random moments.

His first child.

The girl would no doubt look more like him than her mother. She had his black hair (and a lot of it, for a baby) and onyx black eyes. His eyes.

Itachi felt a small twinge of regret. He wished that the girl would have Nani's eyes. Instead, she had his. How disappointing. But still, she looked like an interesting child.

Nani looked the same as always, maybe a little fatter from her pregnancy. She smiled and went over to the small thing's crib, which was a simple, small one. The baby stopped gurgling and fell asleep.

Taking care of a baby was not what Itachi ever intended to do, no matter how strong of a servant it would grow up to be. That was Nani's job, Nani and the others.

Itachi felt a little proud, but quickly shook off the feeling. No, he must not ever think of the girl as his daughter or him as her father. That would only complicate things. Feelings complicated things. And the small thing must just be a tool to use whenever necessary.

Itachi dropped from the tree, but he still stared in the window. Now Nani noticed him, and gave a worried glance in his direction. She relaxed when she saw who it was.

Nani came and opened the window. "Itachi." she breathed.

"Is that Yuri?" Itachi asked, even though he knew the answer.

Nani nodded, cheeks flushed. "Yes, she is! Isn't she a darling."

Itachi looked around, and something seemed to be missing. When he realized what it was, he asked. "Where are your parents?"

Nani blushed. "I've been an orphan ever since I was nine. My parents were killed during a skirmish with Konoha."

That explained why a fifteen-year-old girl with a daughter of her own lived by herself. Of course, he parents could have disowned her, but what sort of parents would they be then?

Itachi inspected Yuri even closer. The thing was now asleep. He made a mental note never to call Yuri "it" or "thing" in front of Nani. Nani seemed like an overprotective mother already. At least she truly loved her child, unlike his own mother.

Itachi turned around and took a few steps before Nani cried out, "You're leaving?!"

"Yes." Itachi answered. He didn't have time to associate himself with those two right now. And he had to check upon his other potential children.

"But you just got here! Yuri, I mean you own daughter-" Nani sputtered indignantly before Itachi raised up a hand to silence her.

"I am from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, where your own village skirmished with, and the very same place where the ninja who killed your parents came from. I will visit later. But I think you should ponder this, I am a danger to you and your child every second I am here." Itachi said.

He ignored Nani's wide-eyed look and left.

Ten months later 

Yuri had grown even more. At eleven months old, she could toddle slightly before falling down. Her hair had grown longer and thicker and darker, and her eyes had become more like a certain rogue ninja's.

Nani was nowhere to be seen. Itachi sighed in frustration. Stupid girl! She should constantly be with Yuri. Yuri would always be in danger, mostly from Orochimaru. And what if Konoha found out if she existed? They would swoop in and take her.

Itachi walked closer to the thing. It looked up at him with gigantic eyes. It did not recognize him, but he hadn't expected it to.

"Hello, Yuri." Itachi said. "Do you know who I am?"

Itachi inwardly kicked himself. Of course she didn't know. He braced himself for the girl to start bawling, but she didn't. She looked up at him with curiosity shining in her eyes. At least he had a little brother, that way he knew how to deal with brats a little.

"Yuri!" Nani came out of the house.

"Momm-eee!" Yuri called out "Momm-eee!"

"Hello, Nani." Itachi said in a happy voice. Well in an attempted happy voice, but it sounded a lot like he was being strangled. Well, it was the thought that counted.

"Itachi!" Nani gasped with delight.

She had apparently forgotten or dismissed the whole "I am from Konoha" thing, Itachi thought with amusement. However, outwardly he said, "How are you doing? How's Yuri?"

"Oh, she's just fine. She said her first word, Mommy, and is learning how to speak at such a young age!" Nani glowed with motherly pride.

"Ah. What about her development as a ninja?" Itachi asked.

"Ninja? She's not even an year old!" Nani laughed.

Itachi was quite serious though. "Nani, my daughter will become a shinobi. Or I'll take her away."

A bit of fear flickered though her eyes. Itachi instantly regretted it. "I apologize. It is just that I come from a long line of ninjas, and I want a bright future for our little Yuri."

"Yes." Nani relaxed. "You may be right."

Yuri stared hungrily at her father. Itachi knew that the sharingan was threatening to burst out of this girl, and she was committing his face to memory.

About two years later 

Yuri perked up instantly when she saw who it was, "Daddy-I mean Father's here!" she hollered.

Nani came out of the room.

Approaching age three, Yuri had sprouted up, growing too fast for Itachi's fatherly side, too slow for his shinobi side. Her hair was shoulder length and as dark as ever. Itachi wanted to cut it short, but didn't ever mention it. He didn't want anyone to know that he cared that much for a little brat. Kisame would never let him hear the end of it.

Itachi had visited several times, about once a month. Yuri had grown used to him. She called him "Daddy" when she younger, but Itachi quickly corrected it to "Father." Still, she would accidentally slip and say Daddy.

Yuri was his favorite. There were the four others, but they seemed more like insurance compared to her.

"You weren't here for my birthday!" Yuri accused. Her face deepened into a huge scowl.

Itachi merely shrugged, but it did bother him. Just slightly.

"You are never here for her birthday." Nani sighed. She had grown older and more mature looking at age eighteen. Itachi was beginning to see a resemblance between Yuri and Nani whenever they scowled.

"Don't make that face, Yuri." Itachi told his little daughter, but she ignored him.

"Yuri, go in the house now." Nani said. Yuri looked up to her mother and scampered in the little shack. Itachi followed.

Yuri was now staring at him with wide, worshipful eyes. "My father is the best!" she cried out proudly.

"Yuri." Nani warned.

Yuri made another face. "Fine! I'll never ever ever say that again!"

Itachi had discussed it with Nani already, that it would be wise to keep his visits a secret. And they had taught Yuri to never mention her father at all.

Yuri was now chatting to Itachi about a little kitten she had found the other day, but he just ignored her. Then his eyes roved to her bandaged arm.

"Yuri, what happened to your arm?" Itachi asked.

Yuri made another one of her faces. She stroked that little bandaged place on her arms and said very fast, "Iggy Snedders made fun of me again, and then he and some of his friends started pushing me so I started beating them up, but he got his thirteen-year-old brother to help him and he pushed me really hard and hurted my arm bad."

"Ah." Itachi said. He exchanged a glance with Nani. She mouthed, "We'll talk about this later."

That night when Yuri was sleeping, Itachi finally approached Nani and they started talking.

"Her progress as a ninja is good. Too good." Nani gulped. "They suspect that the father is a ninja from the five main villages. So they bully her, all the children. And the adults approve! Our daughter is an outcast!"

Itachi couldn't care less, but didn't say so.

About ten months later 

This time, Itachi was quite shocked. (Of course, he hid it.) Nani treated him with an icy, distant politeness and forbid Yuri from ever coming near him. She shot glares at his direction and sent Yuri into another room before sitting down to talk to him.

"I know what you did." was the first thing Nani spat out at Itachi.

"Indeed? What did I do?" Itachi had a feeling what Nani would say, though.

"You. Killed. Your. Family." Nani said slowly and clearly. "You killed them all."

Itachi immediately defended himself. "They had it coming. And I kept my little brother alive."

Cue the enraged Nani explosion. "HOW COULD YOU! I LOOKED UP "UCHIHA" AND FIND OUT YOU KILLED YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY, YURI'S FAMILY! HOW DO I KNOW YOU AREN'T GOING TO MURDER MY LITTLE GIRL!"

Itachi felt a stab of annoyance. Pitiful girl. She didn't understand anything. There had to sacrifices made to help in the grander scheme of things. "I am not going to kill Yuri. And I have my reasons for wiping out my weak clan."

"Mommy?" a small voice whispered. They both looked up and saw a scared looking Yuri peeking from behind a slightly open door. "Daddy?"

Nani's face softened up considerably. She almost smiled. "It's all right, Yuri." Then her face stiffened as she turned to Itachi. "Go. I never want to see you again. Don't come near me or my daughter."

Itachi sighed, got up, and left. Still, it didn't matter. He would come back for Yuri one day and force the sharingan out of her by…well, Nani should enjoy her time in life right now, because she hasn't got much of it left.

_Between one and two months later, at Yuri's fourth birthday_

Itachi looked at the pathetic shack where his goal was. Poor Nani, not much of her life was left.

He could hear them talking. Yuri was laughing, a joyful little sound. Too bad she wouldn't be laughing anymore. She would become like him, a human tool.

Itachi looked into the window. There was the little girl and her mother. On the small table, there was a cake and a teddy bear. How disgustingly cute. Well, Yuri wouldn't have time for that in the future.

He entered.

Yuri's eyes brightened instantly as her father came in. Nani's lips visibly tightened and she said, "Hello, Itachi. You're actually here on your only child's birthday for the first time."

Well, if she died, she should at least know the truth. "She's not my only child."

Nani was shocked. "What? Not your only child! I thought you loved me!"

"Yuri is one of many. I needed offspring for an experiment of mine, and I was quite pleased when you produced one."

Pure fury distorted Nani's features. "HOW COULD YOU!" she shouted.

"Mommy? Daddy? What's wrong?' Yuri asked in a puzzled voice. The girl did not understand.

"Yuri, please get in the room." Nani told her, waving her hand to dismiss the girl.

Yuri obediently left the room, but glanced questioningly at Itachi, and then at Nani. Stupid girl, she should prepare herself for what would happen next.

"Itachi, please, leave. You have been nothing but a burden upon our daughter." Yuri said angrily. Her deep, intense eyes were different, filled to the brim with the uncontrollable anger.

"A burden? I am not a burden." Itachi immediately replied.

"Yes, you are! Everyone wonders who that girl's father is and the children tease her! The adults snub her! She's been doing so excellently at ninja skills for a child her age that everyone's talking about it. Do you know who they say the father is? Some ninja from one of the five main villages who took a liking to me one day! They treat her like dirt. People from a small village like this hate the five main ones!" Nani ranted.

This was so troublesome. So Itachi, in boredom, tipped over the table. The cake fell, squashed. The teddy bear followed soon after.

"My teddy!" Yuri cried out. She ran to the toy that was on the other side of the room. She was vulnerable, so defenseless that Itachi couldn't help but hesitate before saying, "Yuri. Daughter, look this way."

That obediently little girl looked up reluctantly. Then he fell on her and made a single slash on her arm. Instantly, she started screaming as blood oozed from the cut.

"Yuri!" Nani yelled. She started running to her.

"Yuri, look at your mother." Itachi whispered in her ear. Yuri looked up. In that second, Itachi slashed with his kunai.

Yuri screamed and screamed. Nani didn't. She was dead. Even in death, her eyes were deep. Itachi looked at the body, the corpse which the person called Nani once occupied. Now he had sent her away. But…he would miss those eyes.

Itachi approached Yuri. Damn, the sharingan had not come out of this stubborn girl. One thing left to do. He made a series of slashes on her arms. She screamed even louder and tears dripped down her eyes. He _hated _doing this, but it was all necessary.

Soon, the crimson eyes with curved pupils came out.

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"Father?" Jooyeon asked. "You all right?"

Itachi snapped out of his daydreaming. "Yes, I am."

**The end of another chapter. This is all about Itachi's memory of Nani. I had a bit of a writer's block, so I chose to clear up Yuri's past instead.**

**Byakugan789, you're right, I should add more details and stuff. I'm always open to suggestion to improve my writing skills! **

**About a certain part I…ah…omitted. Well, this isn't rated M so I thought it would be better to just skip over that part.**

**Thanks, everyone!**


	8. Phoenix and Jongo

8. Phoenix and Jongo

"My mother was Nani Lim. The most prettiest and strongest woman you'd ever see." Yuri had snapped at Jooyeon.

The two of them had been arguing for the past ten minutes. But it was an improvement in Yuri's book, for she didn't talk much at all. Itachi felt a tiny bit annoyed but ignored them. Troublesome little girls.

"My mother was much better than yours." Jooyeon mumbled, but she looked down.

Jooyeon bit her lip. The truth was that she didn't know her mother very much. She couldn't even remember her name. When all five of them had been in captivity, the others had told stories of their own moms (except for Yuri who mouthed it). Jooyeon hadn't said much about hers. Her mother had undeniably hated her.

Yuri promptly fell silent yet again. She could go on days without uttering a single word.

Kisame inwardly sighed in relief. He hated the brats, but of course, couldn't do anything about them. He liked it a lot when Yuri became mute and Jooyeon avoided eyesight.

"Where we going, Father?" Jooyeon asked.

"Away." Itachi answered.

Jooyeon didn't ask anymore. If Father didn't want to say anything, he didn't. He only let them know what was necessary. Which was basically nothing.

"Two down, three to go, huh?" Kisame said.

Itachi nodded. "I'm hoping to find the others by next week."

"You won't find them!" Yuri accidentally blurted out. She blushed heavily.

"Phoenix will help me." Itachi said. "I do him a favor, he does me a little favor. And he'll tell me where the others are. Retrieving them will be a simple matter."

Yuri thought running in her head was something like the following: Who was Phoenix? Jooyeon already knew about Phoenix so it didn't matter to her.

It was true that Yuri had a certain disability that left her mute at times, but right now, she was quiet because she was formulating an escape plan. She wasn't stupid enough to go back to Konoha, even though she really wanted to. That would the first place Itachi would check. No, she had to live her life on the run…again.

Yuri wondered if that was what the others were doing, deciding that it was safer to never stay in one place for too long. Yuki and Christo and Jongo. What were they doing?

But what mattered now was escape.

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The same time Yuri was busily thinking of escape, Naruto was thinking about rescue.

Everyone had agreed that it was very dangerous to have three other unkown Uchihas running around. What if they were captured by an enemy village? And Yuri and Jooyeon definitely belonged at the Leaf, where their ancestors came from.

But they had no idea of what to do. There was no clue whatsoever of where Itachi had gone or where the Unknown Three were. So all they could do was wait.

Naruto thought over this very glumly. Sure he would meet Akatsuki sooner or later. He had Kyubbi within him, and they would come for him. Maybe then he would rescue Yuri. Or maybe she would escape. But what were the chances of a cute four-year-old escaping the notorious Itachi Uchiha?

"Naruto!" a familiar voice yelled. It was Sakura, and she was banging on the door. "Let me in!"

"Coming!" Naruto shouted back. He approached the door and flung it open. Sure, there was Sakura all right, and a little boy with her.

He was sort of skinny and underfed looking. The boy looked like Yuri's age with the same black hair as her and onyx black eyes and…wait! Was this boy another one of them?

"Yes." Sakura answered, almost as if she read Naruto's mind. "Naruto, meet Yuki Uchiha. Yuki, meet Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hi!" Yuki chirped brightly.

Believe it or not, Naruto was speechless. But just for a few seconds. "How the hell did you find him?"

"Don't say hell in front of a little kid!" Sakura shouted right back. "You're scaring him!" (Actually, he was starting to get freaked out about the strange woman with an abnormal hair color who had semi-kidnapped him and dragged him here to this place which wasn't an orphanage or a hospital. And who was yelling at this other person who could probably beat her up. )

"He just showed up!" Sakura said.

"Just four more." Naruto mumbled.

"Excuse me, Crazy Lady With Weirdo Hair Color and Blondie Man, what are you talking about?" Yuki asked. "All I'm trying to do is look for my sisters and brothers. Are they here?"

"Um, no." Sakura sighed. "Sorry, Yuki. But Yuri was here a little while ago."

Yuki got an excited look on his face. "Yuri! Where'd she go now!"

"Not now. Say, Yuki, can you tell us some stuff later?" Sakura asked. "Stay here with…um…Uncle Naruto right now!"

Sakura ran away before the two boys could say anything.

'So she just dumped the kid on me until she and Granny Tsunade could find a solution' Naruto thought.

Yuki studied Naruto with interest. "I have an uncle?"

"Nah." Naruto said. Then he remembered Sasuke. Technically, Sasuke _was_ Yuki's and Yuri's and Jooyeon's and the Unknown Two's uncle. "Actually, yes. But _I'm_ not your uncle."

"Then who is?" Yuki asked, perplexed. He was really confused. Where was Yuri? And he had an uncle?

"It's a LONG story. But come in and I'll tell you."

Yuki went in the messed up apartment. He looked around, at the table and two chairs, at the small sofa, and finally, at Yuri's little corner.

"She was here, wasn't she?" Yuki asked.

"Let me explain. It began years and years ago. I already told Yuri this story. It was my first day of graduating the Ninja Academy and…………"

Naruto told Yuki the story of him, from becoming genin to Sasuke's defection to taking care of Yuri. It was a long story.

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Christo fell asleep early again. The boy had a built-in alarm clock, which was pretty useful at times. But now Sasuke almost hated it when he fell asleep.

Christo looked extremely vulnerable and defenseless whenever sleeping. It was almost like begging him to kill him. Which Sasuke refrained from doing, but just barely.

After Christo had been captured by Jiraiya, Sasuke had pondered on what to do. Should he just leave the boy or take him along? Finally, he decided to snatch Christo back. How else would they find Itachi and Akatsuki? And maybe, just maybe, Christo could be a useful bargaining chip.

Sasuke had visited the rest of Team Hebi and told them to stay there until he would return. And after that, he had done nothing, absolutely nothing. He had no idea or even tried to come up with one. How would he take Christo away from Jiraiya? 

To his surprise, he didn't need to do anything.

Jiraiya had tried to interrogate Christo, but he had silent, not saying anything except for the occasional, "You're perverted!" or "You're so stupid and ugly!"

"We're going to Konoha." Jiraiya had informed Christo the next day. "Maybe then you would start talking."

Christo panicked. He didn't want to go to Konoha! Sure, he and the others had agreed to go Konoha, but he changed his mind at the last minute and gone back to the Flower Village. He wanted to stay with Sasuke!

"NO!" Christo yelled. He stomped his foot and ran out of the room into the adjoining one and slammed the door.

"Stubborn brat. Reminds me of his uncle." Jiraiya muttered.

Meanwhile, Christo was in the other room. He was so bored here, nothing to do. And the old man hadn't told him anything, just kept asking the most stupid questions about Father and Akatsuki in general. When was Sasuke going to come?

Christo promptly fell asleep after that thought. He still needed his sleep, no matter what situation he was in. And it was when he was sleeping that Sasuke looked into the locked window.

There Christo was, asleep. As if nothing major had happened.

The boy looked a lot like Itachi. It had been so obvious, so why hadn't he noticed? Sasuke grimaced. He had always been the clever one with an eye for details in Team 7. (Well, there was Sakura, too. But Naruto was too bigheaded to notice anything.)

Sasuke hesitated, and rapped lightly on the window. Christ shot up and looked around, curious. That boy was also a light sleeper.

"Who that? Oh! Sasuke!" Christo yelled. Then he looked at the door where Jiraiya was and started whispering. "Sasuke! I knew you'd come!"

"Yes." Sasuke replied. He punched the hard window, and the glass shattered into a million pieces.

Sasuke looked down at his fist. The glass had been pretty hard, it took a lot of strength to break it, and his knuckles were bleeding. "Come on."

Christo ran to the gaping hole and squirmed out. Since he was so small, it was pretty easy, although he got a few little cuts that made him wince.

"Ouchie." Christo commented as he looked at Sasuke's bleeding hand.

"Let's go." Sasuke said. "That Jiraiya is going to come in the room."

"Okay."

Sasuke grabbed Christo. In a few swift hand seals, they disappeared in a puff of smoke before Jiraiya could even get in the room.

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"First, I will get Jongo and then Yuki." Itachi told Kisame. "As for Christo, I'll leave him where he is for now."

Even though it was Kisame he was directing his words to, Yuri and Jooyeon knew that he was also talking to them.

Yuri's thoughts were like the following: I have to escape! I have to find Jongo and Yuki and Christo! And how does he know where they are? Who is Phoenix? Where was Father the entire day?

Jooyeon's thoughts were like the following: So Christo and Yuki and Jongo will get caught. Ha! Serves them right for abandoning me! But how did Father get his information? From Phoenix? I hate to discuss with Yuri, but maybe…

Kisame's thoughts were like the following: Why the hell is he telling me this? I could NOT care less.

What Yuri really said: Nothing. She was silent. She was going through another one of her "mute" phases, and hadn't talked at all.

What Jooyeon really said: "That's great, Father."

What Kisame really said: "Oh."

Itachi was a little annoyed by their less-than-enthusiastic reactions. (He knew Jooyeon's simpering smile had been fake.) So he clapped his hands and said, "Yuri! Jooyeon! To bed!"

So when Jooyeon and Yuri had scampered to their thick purple sleeping bags, Jooyeon had crawled over to Yuri and whispered, "Do you know who Phoenix is? I do."

Yuri did not say anything. Just stared.

"Look, I know you're mad at me because I, um, tried, um, kill you. But I wanna escape, too! And I won't follow you to Konoha. NO WAY! I'm going my own way, so you can wipe your hands clean of me. Unless I choose to hunt you down and kill you, but that'll be years from now." Jooyeon huffed.

Yuri mouthed the following and Jooyeon activated sharingan to see what she said, "Why should I trust you? You did try to kill me just because of a nonexistent grudge! Just leave me alone."

Yuri turned over in her sleeping bag and snuggled in deeper. She hated Jooyeon now for hating her. And she hated herself for getting captured and being born and letting Mommy get killed. She hated Father for obvious reasons. And she hated everyone just because she felt like it.

Yuri couldn't go to sleep easily now that Nani was gone. Where was Nani? She had brought her to training, but forgot what happened to her. Did Naruto-sensei save her?

Jooyeon, in the meanwhile, wasn't sleeping either. She was extremely pissed off by the way Yuri had brushed her aside. Jeez, you expected her to be more understanding. She also knew that Yuri was planning to escape Without her. Leaving her with Father. Again! What kind of a sister would do that?

But eventually, they both drifted off to sleep.

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Jongo woke up. It was still early morning, but time to get a move on.

His small body was used to uncomfortable sleeping spaces and oddly timed meals by now. But still, he hated getting up early in the morning. The lack of sleep was really getting to him.

'Be thankful.' Jongo scolded himself. 'Father didn't find you yet.'

But Jongo wasn't thankful. For one, he had no idea where Konoha was, and couldn't afford money for a map. (He had tried to steal one, but got caught.) And the people who just pointed out the direction weren't too helpful either. Of course, Yuri and Yuki and Christo each had their own maps to follow. Only he didn't. They had been separated, leaving him utterly lost.

Jongo stopped for a minute by an empty riverbed and kicked his feet at the edge. His life was like the river, once vibrant and flowing, now empty and useless. He had sunk into a great depression after his mother died and his father captured him. He was empty and useless.

Even Father had said he was useless. He always hesitated. He hated kunais and shuriken and doing jutsus. He hated seeing bugs squished. He was weak in that way, but seeing other people get hurt reminded him of the day him mother died.

"I am nothing." he told himself.

Then there was a noise. Jongo did not turn around or feel any emotion. He knew who it was. It was Itachi, come to take him back.

"JONGO! RUN!" a familiar voice shrieked.

Jongo turned around then. That surprised him. It was Yuri! "Yuri?"

Yuri had talked. The voice had sounded strangely familiar, because it was almost exactly like the voice that Jongo had expected her to talk with.

"Jongo! You've got to go now! Father's going to come this way soon, and please go!"

Yuri's voice snapped him out of…what? His hopelessness? His shock? His depression? So his next words were, "What about you?"

Yuri shook her head.

Then there was another rustling noise and Itachi emerged from behind a tall bush. He hadn't changed much since Jongo had last saw him, and he struck some fear into his heart.

Jongo gulped and meekly submitted himself. It was no use fighting, he knew that much.

**Another chapter finished. Finally, Jongo comes out! Thanks to every single person who reviewed. When I hit chapter ten, though, I might revise some parts. (Don't worry, the plot won't change so you won't need to go back and read. However, I am considering adding Konohamaru. Tell me if you don't like or like it.)**


	9. Everyone is going to Akatsuki hideout

9. Everyone is going to the Akatsuki hideout!

"So stupid, Jongo! Why didn't you escape?" Yuri mouthed. (Jongo had already activated his sharingan so that he could read her lips.)

"No use escaping." Jongo muttered dully. "This is my-our-life."

"Not mine!" Yuri silently yelled.

Jongo felt some annoyance. Stubborn Yuri. She was always too determined to get her way, to live an ordinary life. Yuri was the one with the best previous life out of all five of them. She and her mom had lived by themselves happily, and they were more isolated from the village than the others.

Jooyeon's mom didn't like her, he knew that much. All the villagers in the Flower Village threw rocks and beat Christo. Yuki had those frequent asthma attacks and bad health. Jongo himself had a different childhood.

Jongo was from one of the more "privileged" class. His mother, Lilyi, had been from a small, but old and fairly powerful clan from the Mist Village. The entire family had disapproved of him, though. They never found out who Jongo's father was, and he knew that behind his back, the called him "Lilyi's bastard child."

So Jongo had a high society upbringing. And he was the last of the line of that clan, and the Uchihas. You would expect him to be "Daddy's favorite." But he wasn't.

Jooyeon had often called him "the wimp" or "softie." But just because he hated seeing living creatures get hurt didn't mean he was weak. Father called him weak all the time, though.

Jongo hated his family. Very, very much.

"I hate this fucking family." Jongo told Yuri. (Yes, he knew swear words. They all did. They did spend some time with Kisame after all.)

Yuri gave one of her signature death glares at Jongo. (Which looked even scarier than Sasuke's and Itachi's combined. Pretty impressive for a little kid.)

"Except for you and Yuki and Christo." Jongo added hastily. "But I still hate Jooyeon."

Yuri's death glare lessened considerably, but she was still frowning. "We gotta escape again." she mouthed.

"No chance of that." Jongo whispered. He quickly glanced in Itachi and Kisame's direction, and then at Jooyeon's. "Look, let's talk about this later."

Yuri gave a quiet sigh. Whenever Jongo said that, he meant, "Let's never talk about this again." Stupid Jongo, always in denial. He was always the worst at sparring out of all five of them. (But maybe it was because he went easy.)

So she would just try by herself. Too bad Christo and/or Yuki weren't here. They would be a lot more useful than Jongo.

"Time to go to the Akatsuki hideout." Yuri heard Kisame say.

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"The Akatsuki hideout! You know where that is?" Naruto yelped.

"Yes!" Yuki yelled back, annoyed. They had repeated this six times now, with an annoyed Tsunade and Sakura staring at them.

"You know where the Akatsuki-"

"YES!" Yuki shouted. "YES! I KNOW WHERE THE FREAKING' HIDEOUT IS, SO STOP ASKING ME!"

There was a moment of silence. Then Yuki cleared his throat. "Sorry. But yes, I do know where it is."

Yuki's lungs started to ache a little from yelling. Oh great. Father called Jongo weak, but it was Yuki who had the genetic problem. Father had been extremely disappointed in his children, but Yuki knew it was Jooyeon most of all. (For some strange reason.) Yuki himself was only second to last.

"So you'll show us where to go?" Sakura finally said.

Yuki nodded. "Then we can save Yuri, maybe Christo and Jongo if they're there. Not Jooyeon. That bitch can burn in hell."

Sakura's eyes widened a little, and then narrowed. "Has Naruto been teaching you swear words?" (Naruto gulped loudly at this point.)

"Nah. Learned them from Kisame-sama." Jongo replied easily. "He had a bad mouth."

"Jooyeon is your sister." Tsunade told Yuki sternly.

Yuki sighed. "Must we go over this again? From what you said, Jooyeon tried to kill my other sister, Yuri. Jooyeon wants to kill me. Jooyeon wants to kill my brothers. Jooyeon works for Itachi Uchiha. And Jooyeon was especially cruel during the time I knew her."

Sakura and Tsunade exchanged a look that meant something, but boys being boys, Yuki and Naruto were unable to understand the private girl language. **(I'm serious. At my school, boys are always that clueless.)**

"Let's go!" Naruto shouted. "Time to find the Akatsuki!"

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"Mommy?" a little girl with blue hair asked. "Where we go?"

The woman with similar colored hair frowned upon her small daughter. "To the Akatsuki hideout. How many times must I tell you this?"

The little blue-haired girl hung her head in shame. She looked about an year old, extremely young, although in actuality, she was two. She had hair the same color as her mother, except it was short, tight, and curly. She had enormous black orbs for eyes and an almost blank look.

"This way, Ann." the woman tugged impatiently gestured to a certain direction.

The little girl, Ann, tried her best to catch up, but it was extremely hard. (Cut her some slack, she's only two!) She tripped numerous times, scraped her knees, got a cut, ran until she was out of breath, and used up all her chakra.

By the next hour, Ann was nearly in tears. The woman noticed. She sighed and picked up the girl, who squealed in delight.

"Little snot-nosed brat." Ann heard her say, but she was used to an entire range of insults. Snot-nosed brat was one of the mildest. From her own mother, she had been called little bitch.

"Gonna see Daddy? See Daddy?" Ann asked.

"Yes, you are going to see your father."

Ann squealed again, and bounced up and down excitedly. She was going to see Daddy! The last time she had seen him was an entire week ago! But he had done something with her arm so it turned black and blue and it hurt to move. Ann had been angry a little and cried a lot, but Daddy had said it was a side affect to make her even stronger. And Ann (poor naïve child) had trusted him.

He had said she was going to be a "sacrifice for the greater good." What was a sacrifice? It sounded strong and important. But whenever she asked her mother, she would glare at her angrily. So Ann decided to just leave it.

He had said she would be "sacrificed" in about a month, which was a LONG time.

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Yuri had been playing with a stick. She had pretended it was Nani for an entire hour.

To sum it up, it sucked.

Jongo hadn't talked much, he mostly stared into the sky with a brooding face. Jooyeon had been training most of the time, chakra control, while taking five minute breaks every now and then. During her breaks, she would glare at Jongo, Kisame, and Yuri. But mostly Yuri. And never Itachi.

Father had been gone for a while, a few hours, before he came back and announced they were ready to travel. They had gone on for the rest of the day after that, and stopped at nightfall to rest up.

Yuri had decided that she would not complain, and had already made up an escape plan. Very simple. Probably wouldn't work. But worth trying.

When Jongo and Jooyeon had drifted off into sleepyland, Yuri jumped up, dropped the stick, and did a big Fireball Jutsu that burned part of the forest they were in. After that, she had run in the opposite direction.

About fifteen minutes later, she was caught and dragged back to their badly burned camp.

Escape Attempt#1 hadn't worked. So Yuri did Escape Attempt#2.

She had henged into Jooyeon and casually walked off into the other direction. Oh, and she tied the real Jooyeon to the tree with chakra strings. But Itachi's sharingan easily caught her and she was (again) dragged back.

It sucked to be Yuri Uchiha.

After two hours of practice, Yuri finally managed to resurrect her voice, although it was still soft. She wanted to talk so she could discuss things with Jongo.

"Why don't you try to escape with me? Two's better than one!" Yuri had urged Jongo the day after her second escape attempt.

"It's useless. We'll be caught, anyways. Father is one of the best shinobi ever! We're just a bunch of little kids to him." Jongo replied dully.

"Has he ever hurt you?" Yuri huffed. Jongo nodded.

"Tsukiyomi doesn't count! And by that, I don't mean little bruises and cuts, but something permanent!" Yuri snapped back so loudly that Itachi, Kisame, and Jooyeon glanced in their direction.

Yuri kept her mouth shut after that. (Mute. Again.) But the gears in her brain moved at a frightening speed. She thought of what to do and when to do it. But somewhere deep inside, she knew it was hopeless.

Please note that even if Yuri was a fairly decent ninja, very mature, and an Uchiha, she was still four years old. So she cried silently. Tears ran down her cheeks. When she realized what she was doing, she blushed furiously and wiped them away as quickly as possible.

Was this her entire life? A tool of Father's whims? Stuck with Jongo and Jooyeon for the rest of her years?

'NO! I won't allow it!' Yuri thought. 'But first, I have to get stronger. When I get older and bigger, then I'll make up a better escape plan. But not now. Not now."

Itachi was observing Yuri by the corner of his eye. First she had that look on her face that meant she was thinking as hard as she could, and then an expression of hopelessness replaced it. She started crying, and then was filled with shame when she found out. Suddenly and surprisingly, fierce determination flooded her face.

So his first and favorite child was a fighter who never gave up. In time, she would become a useful weapon.

Again, Itachi felt that twinge in the small, very small, extremely tiny section of his heart. Maybe he should let the three children he currently have take a long break. They looked rather worn out.

Itachi shook off that feeling. It wouldn't do for him to feel that much.

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"Sasuke, why you so grouchy?" Christo had asked curiously that day.

"Shut up." Sasuke snapped. Christo did.

There were many conflicting emotions within Sasuke. Of course, keeping Christo would be the wise choice to do, but still…

He was the son of a killer. Whenever Sasuke looked at him, Christo looked even more like his father. The same pale skin, black hair, nose, and black eyes. _Why hadn't he ever noticed it before?_

They were both by themselves at camp, and Team Hebi was elsewhere. (Sasuke sent them off to do a nonexistent errand so he could brood on his thoughts without Karin interrupting him.) Sasuke had been quiet lately because he was too busy thinking.

"Christo, how much do you know about your father?" Sasuke finally asked to break the silence.

Christo flashed a smile in Sasuke's direction. "Not very much. I know he looks like me, and his name, and some of his jutsus, but I think that's it. I hate him."

The last three words were said as casually as the rest. "I hate him" pretty much summed up what Sasuke and Christo both thought of Itachi.

"He killed your mother?" Sasuke half asked, half stated.

"Yeah." Christo didn't say anything else.

Sasuke knew he shouldn't push for details (having had the same experience before). But he couldn't help asking, "Why?"

"He said that it was t-to make me s-stronger." Christo mumbled and looked down at his hands. His face had an unmistakable guilty look. "If I wasn't born, maybe she wouldn't have died."

"Don't feel guilty." Sasuke told him. Then he said the magic words, "It isn't your fault."

Christo looked up worshipfully at Sasuke. Nobody had ever, ever said that, not even his mother. He had always thought it was always his fault, and his alone. Nobody had ever said those four words, "It isn't your fault."

"It's his." Sasuke told him.

"You mean Father?" Christo asked. Did Sasuke know Father?

"He and I know each other. And I plan to kill him." Sasuke half-smiled down at him, and Christo still stared at him with awe.

Then he pouted. "But I wanna kill him!"

Sasuke felt irritated. He didn't need any competition for the murder of Itachi Uchiha! Then he said, "You will help me kill him, and you will be one of my useful allies. How about that?"

Christo smiled. He felt better than he did for a long, long, long, long time. "Sound good, Sasuke."

"Call me Uncle."

**Another chapter is finished! **

**Just saying, if you guys have noticed, Nani has the same surname as I do. That's because I named Nani after one of my cousins, Nani Lim. Jongo is also named after another one of my cousins. (Actually, I don't know Nani very well. Jongo and I were close when we were younger, though.)**

"**Lilyi" is pronounced the same as "Lily." I just added an extra "i" at the end because it seemed more artistic.**

**And I also bumped into another story called "Yuki Uchiha" while browsing through fanfiction. Not only that, there was also another character named Yuri! (Although Yuri and Yuki are not brother and sister and the plot is much different.) I did not copy anything off of there, I just bumped into it recently. I do not believe in plagiarizing. (Besides, like I said, the plot is much is different.)**

**Ann has now come out! The blue haired woman is Blue Hair from Akatsuki. Yes, her mother. Her father is (well, I'm sure you already figured it out, but it'll be implied who he is in the next chaper.)**


	10. Confrontation!

10. Confrontation!

"How long have you known Yuri?" Yuki asked.

It was out of the blue, and really random, so it threw Naruto off guard. "W-What?"

"How long have you known Yuri?" Yuki repeated patiently, unlike his hotheaded half-sister. He did look incredibly like Yuri, but behaved totally different.

"Um, for a month?" Naruto answered.

"And she talked. To you?" Yuki continued on.

Kakashi didn't say anything, but he could've sworn he detected a bit of jealousy in Yuki's voice. Sakura definitely did. Sai (being formerly emotionless and currently clueless) noticed nothing.

"Um, yeah." Naruto said, a little confused.

"Yuri never talked to me." Yuki pouted. "And we're both different sides of the same coin."

"You guys are coins?" Naruto was even more confused.

"You're stupid." Yuki told him.

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

Well, the rest of their conversation was a lot like that. Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't do anything. Leave it to Naruto to get into a fight with a four-year-old! Kakashi was too busy reading his Icha Icha book, and Sai wanted to intervene, but didn't know how.

They had been heading to the Akatsuki "homebase." Yuki said that they were VERY close. But privately, Sakura and Kakashi thought that he was lying to get Naruto angry. (Poor, clueless Sai, he actually believed in him, too.)

Although Yuki looked like Yuri, his personality was much different. He was even more mature, much more serious, and didn't like Naruto. He seemed to think about things a lot, and (from what the others deduced) had a close relationship with Yuri.

"Yuri doesn't like peanuts." Yuki had stated once when Naruto offered to share some. (This was before they started arguing.) "She likes almonds, though. Didn't you know that?"

Yuki's last sentence was so smug that Naruto had to resist an urge to punch him in the face. This little brat was probably jealous that he and Yuri got along so well. But Naruto had to admit, Yuki knew a lot more things about Yuri than he did. And Naruto felt the smallest twinge of jealousy. Just the teensiest bit.

Whenever Yuki and Naruto talked, sparks flew. So they didn't talk much unless it was about the route to Akatsuki or how to rescue Yuri.

Yuki had also described his other siblings as much as he could, Jongo, Jooyeon, and Christo. He told them about their abilities, favorite things, personalities, and pasts. He described them as best as he could. Just in case.

"If Father has Jooyeon and Yuri, he could also have Jongo or Christo. Or both." Yuki said. "And I don't want them to get hurt either."

"But Yuri seems like your favorite." Sakura remarked.

They had been taking a short break during their long travels. They had been making extremely good progress. Even though it was harder on Yuki than anyone else, he never complained. Not even once.

"Yeah." Yuki said, but didn't elaborate. He looked away, and his eyes met Sai.

"I don't like you." Yuki told him in a casual tone. "You look like Father."

"W-What?" Sai said. (Oh look people, Sai is practicing his emotions.)

"I said that I didn't like you because you look like Father." Yuki repeated even slower. Jeez, the kid had a subtle way of making you feel stupid.

"But according to 'The Book of Basic Friendship,' looks don't matter as long as you and the person share a deep bond." Sai spluttered. "The book does not lie!"

Sai fumbled around his bag, and got a much-read copy of a crappy, girly looking book called "The Book of Basic Friendship." It had a sparkly flower on the front cover. (Oh great, now Sai's going around trusting in that stupid book. Never buy those kinds. They are rip-offs!)

"What the! Sai!" Naruto snatched the book and started skimming through it. "Sleepovers, bonding time, what you feel in your heart, etc.! This book is-"

"Pure gold." Sai beamed. (Ah, Sai is looking quite happy.) "It has helped me considerably in the field and knowledge of making facial expressions."

Naruto returned the book and sat down. The other four were careful to avoid eye contact. Yes, even Yuki.

Little did they know that a pair of sharingan eyes were staring at them.

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"Uncle! Uncle!" a red-faced Christo cried out. He ran up to Sasuke.

"Where the hell have you been, Christo?" Sasuke asked. "I was beginning to get worried."

"I found my brother!" Christo squealed, excited.

Sasuke was shocked. Brother? Christo had a brother? Was this one of Itachi's children (aka another nephew)? And why was he here?

"Pipe down, ya little pipsqueak." came Suigetsu's muffled voice from the tent. "Can't ya guys see we're trying to get some sleep here?"

Both Christo and Sasuke ignored him.

"It was Yuki!" Christo continued on, but obediently fell silent when Sasuke raised up a hand.

"First, tell me this. Why didn't you tell me you had brother?"

"I dunno. Forgot, I guess. And I have two brothers and two sisters." Christo replied. "But it was Yuki! And he was with some Konha ninja!"

Sasuke finally got Christo to slow down and explain. So Chirsto told him about Yuri, Jongo, Yuki, and Jooyeon.

Sasuke thought about this turn of events for a minute. Would it benefit him to drag around another little brat? Should be confront this other nephew of his? Should he try to find his other nephews and nieces?

"Can you describe Yuki for me?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes! He's really serious, and he and Yuri hang out a lot together. He's sorta strong but quiet most of the time, unless Yuri is around. And he was a lot of asthma attacks." Christo said this all very, very fast.

"I would like to see him." Sasuke declared.

"All righty then!" Christo smiled. "This way!"

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"The Basic Book of Friendship' clearly states that sharing your worst fears with another peer can bring you closer together." Sai said.

Naruto groaned. Why was he here again? With Sai? Reading the damn "The Basic Book of Friendship." It was Yuki's fault! (No, it wasn't. Naruto just felt like blaming someone. Poor, poor little Yuki, being blamed for something he didn't do.)

"Share your worst fear. We will go around in a circle. Who would like to start?"

The other four stared at him dully. They were all huddled around a campfire at night, and Sai had somehow convinced him to follow his "friendship rituals." (Kakashi suspected he had used genjutsu to influence them.)

"All shy? Then I will start. My worst fear is breaking my bonds. Imagine!" Sai shuddered. "Bonds are a necessity in life! How else must one express oneself through artistic means?"

How pathetic. That was everyone's thought. Except for Naruto. He didn't quite understand everything. (Yes, this is very corny, but I need something to fill in the space.)

"Your turn, Sakura." Sai said.

"My worst fear is piranhas." Sakura easily lied.

"I sympathize with you." Sai nodded. "Their teeth are so sharp! Your turn, Naruto."

"Not bringing Sasuke back." Naruto grunted. "Or getting captured by Akatsuki and having Kyubbi slowly and painfully removed by a three day process, and that power being used for world domination."

"Um, interesting fear." Sai acknowledged. "Kakashi?"

"Brekng bonds also." Kakashi lied.

"Yuki?" Sai turned to the next victim.

"This is stupid. Why should I reveal my worst fear to you?" Yuki snapped. "Leave me alone. I hate you. And Naruto."

There was a rustling noise that they all detected. Instantly, all of them had weapons in their hands and were staring at the general direction the noise came from.

"Relax. We don't mean any harm." a voice said.

Everyone except Yuki recognized the voice and froze. Was that…? Could it be…? It was! Sasuke emerged from the bushes. And he wasn't alone. There was a little boy grasping onto his arm

"Yuki! Hi!" the boy yelled, and waved.

"Hey, Christo. Where were you?" Yuki said easily. Both of them were oblivious to the tension of the older ones.

"S-Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Well, duh! Who else would I be?" Sasuke scoffed.

Yuki ran to meet Christo, and vice versa. Finally, Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi's attention came to the black haired boy who was chatting with Yuki.

"How've you been, Christo?" Yuki smiled.

"Fine! I've been traveling with Uncle, though." Christo answered with a similar smile.

"Christo? Isn't that your brother, Yuki?" Sakura asked. (Jeez, everyone is asking questions.)

"Yup!"

Sasuke gave Yuki a quick examination. He looked like Itachi. (Not unexpected. Dominant Uchiha genes.) He seemed friendly with Christo. Perfect.

"Yuki, come join us!" Christo pulled on Yuki's arm. "We're on a quest for vengeance to kill Father!"

If it weren't for the two kids, the others would've burst into action. But seeing the two little boys exchange words made them all hesitate.

Naruto felt a swirl of emotions. Anger, joy, confusion, mostly. Here was Sasuke. But why was he here? And how dare he leave Konoha! (Grrrr…)

"Nah. Sorry, Christo. We're on a mission to save Yuri. And we have an uncle? I thought they all died?"

"Yuki, please take five big steps back." Kakashi said sharply.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Yuki took five big steps back. Christo didn't know why, but he also took five big steps back.

"Uncle, can I go now? I'm hungry!" Christo whined.

"Shut up." Sasuke told him, and Christo zipped his lips and threw away the key.

"Sasuke." Sakura began, but was interrupted by Naruto, who started ranting the following: "You're here for Yuki, aren't you Sasuke? You don't give damn about me or Sakura or Konoha at all! Why did you have to run away? I'm going to drag you back!"

"Yawn. Where have I heard this before?" Sasuke jibed. "Now you shut up. It was pure coincidence we bumped into you. Christo and I are going to Akatsuki's base."

"Then it's not coincidence!" Sakura said and dropped her kunai. "We're also going to the Akatusuki base."

Sasuke pondered this little bit of info. "Then, perhaps it would be best to put aside out differences and work for the common goal."

"You're going to join us?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "Just like that?"

"Yes."

Naruto nearly choked. Sasuke was temporarily joining them for a "common goal." After all he had done to get stronger, Sasuke decided to join them on a freaking whim. No!

But Sai interrupted Naruto's thoughts when he said, "Ah! Perfect! You are in time for our bonding session. Now to begin…"

Sai smiled at his new victims. Poor, poor Sasuke and Christo. They didn't deserve torture like this.

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"Momm-eee! We here!" Ann yelled excitedly.

"Yes, Ann. We're here." Blue Hair sighed. Having a daughter was just so annoying! Couldn't she just leave little Ann at an orphanage at a village far away? But then again, Ann was needed.

Blue Hair felt a little bit of nervousness, but squashed that. She's been thinking about Ann's father. Officially, he was Pain, the feared Akatsuki leader. But there was a chance, the smallest chance, that her father could be someone else.

Ann looked too much like her, the same blue hair (except shorter and curly), eye shape, skin tones, etc. But her eyes were a pitch black, which had struck some fear into Blue Hair. They were dark as Itachi's. But it was just the color of the eyes that seemed to resemble the other potential father's. Surely, she couldn't be Itachi's! And Pain had once mentioned that some of his family members had been dark-eyed.

Ann was the only child in Akatsuki. Except for Itachi's brats, of course. When Itachi's five children were here, Ann and they would sometimes play together. But Ann was always the youngest and sweetest.

While Blue Hair was lost in her thoughts, Ann stole a quick, worried glance at her. She knew something had been bothering her mother lately, but didn't know what.

"There her is!" Ann squealed and ran up to Pain. She pretty much glomped him.

Pain made no move to hurt Ann, but didn't show any affection towards her either. Instead, he impatiently pried her off.

"Why does she have to be with me?" Blue Hair asked.

"I have no time for the girl." Pain answered. "Nor do I want to get attached to her."

Ann didn't seem to notice the tension in his voice as he said his next words. "It's almost time."

Blue Hair nodded.

"Don't tell me you have gotten attached to it." Pain frowned. "Yes, it is our child, but once it serves our purpose it'll be no more. Itachi recommends on referring the child to 'it' to grow estranged from it."

Ann stared curiously at her parents. She had no idea what they were talking about, but it sounded pretty intense from the tone of their voices.

"I go now, Momm-eeee?" Ann asked, but was staring at her father.

"Yes." Pain answered unemotionally.

Ann smiled even wider, turned around, and ran into the Akatsuki base. Too bad that she had to killed.

**Chapter 10 is finished, which means I'll go back and revise the other chapters. (Adding more detail, fixing typos, etc.) I'll also somehow squeeze Konohamaru in the plot.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed!**


	11. More on Phoenix

**11. More on Phoenix**

"Guess what, guys!" Naruto said gleefully. "Sai's book has disappeared under mysterious circumstances!"

Naruto looked at Yuki and Christo for their reactions. They had been "meditating" beside a fire for a good part of the day. Stupid Uchiha boys.

"Eh." Yuki replied. He was watching the fire intently. If Naruto hadn't been so happy, he probably would've noticed Yuki's face flush redder in a subtle say. Just by a tiny bit.

Christo, on the other hand, stifled a laugh. Naruto noticed that, at least.

"What's so funny?" Naruto demanded. "Tell me!"

Naruto hated Yuki and Christo. They were so annoying! They played pranks on him, and complained (very loudly) whenever Sai got out his book, and swore. Though they were careful not to swear if Sasuke or Sakura was around.

"It got burned." Yuki said, not taking his eyes off the bright fire. He took a stick and poked at the ashes of what was once a book.

Naruto stared.

"I did not burn it." Yuki continued on quietly. "My hand acted of its own accord."

"Just make sure Sai doesn't find out." Christo advised. "He has some ink justsu in his arsenal, ya know. He makes these damned ink rats who can spy on people. That bastard."

"You're not supposed to swear. I'm telling." Naruto whined.

"Who will Uncle and Sakura believe? Two innocent little four-year-olds or a lying bastard like you? Just be grateful Yuki burned that book." Christo snapped.

"You're mean." Naruto said, but very, very softly so that they couldn't hear.

He observed Yuki and Christo. They were like a team, and it was hard to think that they had ever been separated. From what he had heard, it seemed that Jongo and Yuri were also a part of their team. Not Jooyeon, though.

Sasuke was weird, Naruto thought. He was rarely around, and even then, it was to check up on Christo. (What was so great about that little brat?) He didn't talk to anyone. Naruto felt frustrated. Sasuke "temporarily joined" because he felt like it! Just like that! That ungrateful, little-

"Have you seen my 'The Basic Book of Friendship?' " Sai asked. He had just intruded upon their private "meditation."

Naruto was careful not to look at him. Sai might be able to read the expression on his face. Yuki tried to hide the ashes that once was once Sai's beloved book. Christo shook his head.

"What a pity. Now I don't have the whole set anymore!" Sai sighed.

"Whole set?" Yuki looked up in surprise.

"Yes. 'The Basic Book of Friendship' is merely the first book. What a pity, I wanted us to go through every single stage. But today we'll skip ahead and move onto the next one, 'The Intermediate Book of Friendship.' "

Inner Naruto, Yuki, and Christo: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sai (who is secretly able to read minds at random moments)?

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Yuri! Jongo! Jooyeon!" Ann squealed. She ran up to the three older children and glomped them.

"Hi, Ann." Yuri said. Even though she was four, Ann was only two. That meant Yuri was twice as old as her, though very young.

Ann and the Uchiha siblings knew each other pretty well. In fact, Ann might as well as be their sister. Since they were the only children of Akatsuki, Ann had nobody else to play with, and grew extremely close to the Uchiha siblings.

"Where you be?" Ann demanded in that little-kiddish voice of hers. "You gone!" (Remember, she's still two years old, folks. You can't expect a two-year-old to use big words.)

"We had a mission." Yuri lied.

Ann accepted this. She squinched her eyes and looked at her mother and Itachi discussing something.

Jooyeon and Jongo were quieter than usual. Ann noticed this but decided not to comment. She had learned from experience that bothering any of the five siblings when they were down was a bad move.

"Ann, come here." Blue Hair snapped. Ann looked over adoringly to her mother, waved good-bye to Yuri and the rest, and skipped over to Blue Hair.

Yuri looked at Ann until she and her mother left. Ann seemed so small and innocent and happy in such a place. Not for long, if the things that she heard were true.

Yuri wasn't stupid. She spied on Akatsuki members whenever she could. And lately she had heard snippets of things like, "Ann…sacrifice for…cannot wait." or "The brat will die for…sacrfice." And so on.

They were using the little blue-haired girl and the word "sacrifice" in the same sentence. But when? And for what? Yuri wanted to help Ann escape when the time came, but she hadn't gathered enough information to make up a solid plan.

"Yuri! Jooyeon! Jongo! I am going to teach you something." Itachi's voice made Yuri snap out of her broodings.

"Yes, Father?" Jooyeon asked.

Itachi looked serious. (Well, more serious than usual.) "This is an incredibly old technique handed down for generations in secret until it has reached us."

Itachi went into big speech that Yuri only half-listened to.

"And so." he concluded. "Come forward!"

Yuri exchanged an uneasy glance with Jongo. But both of them came forward along with Jooyeon. They stood stiffly in a straight line, praying that this wouldn't be painful or traumatizing.

"The Uchiha clan has been born with a tendency towards the fire element? Why is that?" Itachi threw a scroll at the ground. "It is because we have been the faithful servant of Phoenix!"

Jooyeon didn't even flinch, but Yuri and Jongo looked a little curious despite their fear.

"It was believed to be a myth. But…it's not." Itachi _had _to make everything dramatic. (Get to the point, already!) "Phoenix!"

Yuri and Jongo gasped. Like any other ninja children, they had been brought up with the old legend of a demon named Phoenix. Phoenix was said to be spectacular and butchered thousands, but mysteriously disappeared a few hundred years ago.

"It's not a little child's fairy tale. For years, the Uchihas have been Phoenix's faithful servant. As long as they sacrificed one from the clan each generation." Itachi stared at them with hard eyes. "In my generation, it was supposed to be my brother, your uncle, Sasuke."

Yuri remembered who Sasuke was. Sensei's old friend. They knew each other?

"He was supposed to be the sacrifice, but later they decided to change it to me. Needless, to say, I punished them to the maximum. And sacrificed more than what was necessary." Itachi smirked heavily. "Now I'll show you the new jutsu you'll learn."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Squirrel!" Sai squealed, and dove out of the way.

"What the fuck! Sai, get over here!" Naruto yelled.

Naruto and Yuki went to go find Sai. He was hiding behind some nice, thick bushes, whimpering and cringing.

"What was up with that squirrel?" Naruto asked.

Sai rocked back and forth. "Forgive me! I lied during our telling of our worst fears. My worst fear is"-shudder-"squirrels."

"What. The. Fu-" Naruto started to say, but Yuki went over to him and tripped him.

"You shouldn't make fun of other people's fears, stupid!" Yuki smirked. Then he put on a (fake) comforting face and said, "Sai, I'll help you overcome your fears."

"They're so freaky! And I'm allergic to them!" Sai kept rocking.

"Everything's all right." Yuki said, patting Sai on the back, and giving a scolding look to Naruto.

Naruto was getting (to say the least) pissed off. By both Sai and Yuki, of course. Couldn't they be less annoying? Naruto was starting to like it better before he turned Sai into an emotion feeling not penis joking guy. And Yuki, well maybe he would be better if he wasn't so conceited!

"Is everything all right there?" Sakura yelled to them.

"Yeah!" Yuki yelled back. "Just give us a sec."

(Yes, Sai in my story is different. He can read minds at random moments, doesn't do those penis jokes of his, is scared and allergic to squirrels, and carries around "The Books of Friendship" set. Volumes 1-10, second edition. He's been trying to get his hands on all the volumes, 1-12, first edition, but alas, he is unable.)

"C'mon. Time to go." Naruto mumbled, hoping that Yuki would actually listen to him for once.

He didn't.

Naruto just decided to abandon Sai and Yuki for the time being, and rejoin Chirsto, Sakura, and Kakashi. So he left them.

"What are they doing?" Kakashi asked. "Is Sai crying?"

"Um, eh." Naruto replied.

Christo threw a kunai at a tree. There was a slight rustling noise and a squirrel fell out. A squirrel that had been killed by the kunai, to be exact, and the same squirrel Sai had run away from. (It had gone right into his neck.)

"You killed a poor, defenseless squirrel!" Naruto accused, pointing to Christo.

"It's rude to point." Christo said. He then walked up to the squirrel and picked up the body by a stick. No sense in getting dirty, icky germs on his nice, clean hands.

"Why did you kill that squirrel?" Naruto and Sakura said at the same time.

"Revenge. Besides, it was annoying me." Chirsto sniffed.

"Revenge is bad for your health." Sakura, the only (and very skilled) medic-nin told him.

"That's not what Uncle told me." Christo said in a rare moment of cluelessness. "He told he revenge was a good thing."

Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi all had the same thoughts. Sasuke hadn't changed about the whole "revenge is good, blah, blah, blah" part. And he had sort of brainwashed the poor kid.

Just then, Yuki and Sai came back. Sai had fully recovered from his fears and was busy planning out the dinner menu. (Yes, he cooked the meals while on the road. He believed it would "bring them closer together." But really, Sakura had invented a trick where they hid the inedible parts in their napkins, so the group stopped complaining shortly after.)

Christo threw the squirrel's dead corpse. At Sai.

Sai gave a high-pitched scream like a girl and ran away. Yuki sighed, glared at Christo, and went back to get him.

"Revenge is good." Christo stated in a dull voice..

(But the poor, innocent squirrel was a victim of Christo's revenge. Don't worry, it will rest in heaven. )

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yuri had screamed and struggled to no avail. Yes, screamed. The occasionally mute girl felt she had to scream on this occasion. Father had pinned her against the wall and taken some of her blood using a dreaded needle! At first, he did it to Jooyeon, who also struggled and protested. She lasted for about two seconds. Next was Jongo. He lasted exactly one second more than Jooyeon.

Yuri, on the other hand, had lasted for five seconds.

Yuri whimpered and clutched the place where the shot had entered her skin. It didn't really hurt that much, but it was the fear. All her life, her mom had warned her against needles. Jooyeon and Jongo, too. They had been told that drawing one's blood would have perhaps fatal consequences.

Itachi had pointedly ignored his children's screaming. After he had felt he had a sufficient amount of blood from each of them, he made them sit down and stop their blubbering. (Under threat of Mangekyou, of course.)

"Write your name with your blood." Itachi commanded sternly.

All of them ducked their heads, dipped their fingers in their blood, and wrote their names on the unrolled scroll in their childish handwriting. Most of the reason Itachi hadn't stopped Yuri from teaching the others how to read and write was that how else would they know how to write their names on summoning scrolls? And Phoenix was valuable.

After they had all finished, the scroll disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Now, let us see what you can do." Itachi growled in his sadistic way.

Yuri glared. Jooyeon looked blank and emotionless. Jongo gulped and shivered. They had their own ways of reacting to this.

"A warning. Phoenix is loyal to no one, and likes bargaining." Itachi added as an afterthought. "It is no fixed servant of the Uchihas, or vice versa. Rather, we have an alliance due to past payments."

"So why don't you teach this summoning to someone else?" Jongo asked. Then he bit his lip. It was stupid of him to ask. Now Father would be very angry with him.

But instead, Father seemed almost amused.

"Why don't you explain, Jooyeon?" Itachi asked his youngest. "If I recall correctly, you were there, listening to what I told you my future plans were to Kisame."

Jooyeon glared at her father for a minute. Then she recited with a monotone voice the following: "The only ones who are able to summon Phoenix-and hence make deals with him- are the ones who could use the sharingan."

Itachi gave a rare smile. "Exactly."

The three children waited for the next phase of training to commence. Even Jongo was a little excited.

"Now, go wash up for dinner." Itachi said. He walked off and slammed the door in their faces.

'Harsh.' Yuri thought.

'Mean.' Jongo thought.

'Insensitive narcissistic maniac.' Jooyeon thought.

Later that night at dinner 

Actually, it wouldn't be "dinner." It was when Yuri, Jongo, Jooyeon, and Ann were confined to the "nursery" until bedtime, with a plate of food for each of them. The food sucked. It wasn't a nursery. It was a small, claustrophobic room with random junk in it.

Ann ate everything on her plate and picked off the leftovers from Jooyeon's. She chatted and giggled about her latest adventure at her mom's most recent scouting mission. That little girl fell asleep shortly afterwards, so the other three had time to talk.

The other time they were at the Akatsuki base, they had tried to amuse themselves in the nursery. Yuki had fashioned a "tent" out of the cardboard boxes, and Yuri had made a slide out of some of the tables. Even after the "maze games," life had been bearable.

Yuri was bored. So she started flicking dust at Jooyeon. Jooyeon got pissed and yelled. Jongo was quiet.

It wasn't a very good night.

**End of another chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update.**


	12. More on Lilyi

**12. More on Lilyi**

"You should die." Naruto told him.

"I love you, too." Yuki replied, not bothering to look up from his book of physics that Sakura had lent him for a little light reading.

Naruto hated baby-sitting for Yuki and Christo. That is all you need to know.

Christo was flipping through his book of baby names. "If I have a daughter, I'm gonna name her Mai. Mai Uchiha. Uchiha Mai. Sounds good, Yuki?"

"I don't mind having a niece name Mai." Yuki said. He closed his book, finished with the last chapter.

"_Why_are you picking out your children's names already?" Naruto asked. Christo had already picked out his three sons' names, Sasuke, Christopher, and Forest.

"If I die early, I will die knowing the satisfaction of having picked out the names of my potential children." Christo snapped. He threw the book aside and yawned. "I'm bored."

Naruto wished for the millionth time that the tent was bigger. Then he'd have more space to distance himself from the brats. Yuki and Christo shared a tent, as did he and Kakashi. Sakura had her own. So did Sai. As for Sasuke, he wasn't around much.

Yuki was now attempting to a Rubik's Cube. That boy was really smart.

"Hey." Sai entered the already crammed tent. "Wassup?"

"NO!" Naruto, Yuki, and Christo shouted in unison before he could get another word in. Then Naruto realized he had said the same thing at the same time as Yuki and Christo, and vice versa, so they became furious.

"Jeez, I was just wondering." Sai griped.

"We do NOT wanna have bonding time, thank you very much." Yuki snapped. He was in a bad mood. His Rubric's Cube was all finished, except for one tiny spot of blue in red.

Sai sighed. These people were so unenthusiastic about friendships! And wasn't it Naruto who had given him the whole speech about "bonds?" All he was trying to do was bring everyone closer together! But nobody appreciated it! Oh well, he would have to try harder.

"Go away." Yuki said, redoing his Rubik's cube again.

"Why don't we all go out for a walk?" Sai suggested. "Then we can talk about -"

"No." Naruto said instantly.

"No." Christo replied the same time as Naruto.

"NO!" Yuki shouted, gritting his teeth, his full concentration on the impossible puzzle before him.

Then someone else came in.

"Hey, you can stop babysitting now. Kakashi-sensei and I are back now." Sakura said, barely managing to squeeze into the tent. She surveyed the room and tossed back her pink hair. "Oh, hi Sai! Whatcha doing here?"

Unfortunately, Sakura looked at Naruto, Yuki, and Christo's warining (a slashing motion across the neck) too late.

"Attempting to mend the broken bonds between Naruto and Yuki and Christo." Sai said. "It is rather difficult."

"I wonder why." Sakura said. She wanted to get out now. No sense in staying in a tent full of boys. Especially one frustrated blonde one, another smart one doing a hard puzzle, another bored to death, and the last one clueless. "I'm outta here."

As Sakura was about to get out, someone else came in, blocking the doorway. Kakashi had somehow entered the tent, which now held a grand total of six, while it was only meant for two.

"Yo." Kakashi said and gave a small wave of his hand.

"Get out." Christo snapped, clearly in a bad mood, just like pretty much everyone else in the tent. "Can't you see we're busy?"

Definitely not a good scene to intrude. Five cranky youngsters, three of them angsting adolescents, the other two being two impossible brats.

"Why're you here?" Naruto asked in a semi-polite voice.

"Sai invited me for a walk and went to invite the rest of you, too." Kakashi groaned. The only reason he had accepted Sai's invitation for a "bonding walk with everyone" was because he had to get rid of the boy. "I came to check up on the rest of you since he was taking way too long."

"It's claustrophobic in here!" Yuki whined. "At least two people, _get out now_!"

Nobody liked Yuki in full out angry mode. So Kakashi and Sakura, who were closest to the doorway, scrambled to get out.

_BAM!_

"Ow!"

"Ow!"

"Ouch."

"Watch where you're going!"

"Watch where _you're_ going!"

"Sakura?"

"Sasuke?"

"Everyone seems to have forgotten about me." Kakashi sighed mournfully. "Alas, since I'm not at the epitome of youth anymore, people rarely pay attention to me."

Naruto threw Yuki's pillow at Kakashi. "Quit your angsting."

"How are we all fitting in here?" Sakura asked. She was uncomfortably close to Sasuke, whom she and Naruto and Kakashi had carefully avoided talking to and talking about. "It's so crowded in here!"

"Uncle!" Christo bellowed and waved at Sasuke, which was nearly impossible given the little space they had left.

But Christo and Yuki's uncle was a little preoccupied, being wedged next to Sakura was not pleasant. So he wiggled slowly and carefully out more toward his two young nephews.

"Better." Sasuke gave a rare almost smile of relief.

"NO! NOT BETTER!" Naruto shouted. "YOU'RE STEPPING ON MY TOE!"

"I'm so sorry." Sasuke said sarcastically. "Now shut it."

"No, you shut it."

"No, you shu-"

"Okay, now! We're all in here! Let's get out!" Sakura hastily interrupted. If this little argument was like any of Naruto and Sasuke's past fights, it would be long and boring and repetitive.

"Fine. I'll go out first." Kakashi said and tried to make his way out, but tripped over Sakura's foot. "Ow. Never mind. You go first, Sakura."

Naruto banged his head in frustration against the wall. But it was harmless cloth and didn't do anything to his brain cells or comfort him, for that matter.

But then, the world seemed to suddenly and violently tilt.

Wait a minute. This was a tent. On top of a steep hill. Naruto had just banged his head on the wall, and that little action combined with all the weight and the heavy wind caused the tent to (you guessed it) fall.

"IDIOT!" Yuki, Christo, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi all screamed as they tumbled down the hill. It was rather painful.

When they finally got down to the bottom, all was quiet for a long time.

Suddenly, Yuki said, "I hate you, Naruto."

"Shut up. Just shut up."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Jongo was thinking of his mother.

Her name was Lilyi. She was the youngest child and only daughter of the brother to the head of the clan. All her life, she had known a world full of stiff smiles and rare privileges. Her two older brothers were always too busy bickering over the inheritance, her father always had to help the head of the clan, and her mother was too caught up in her social life to really care. The rest of her family members were snobby and arrogant.

Lilyi spent her young childhood alone, without any real friends. She was obedient, quiet, meek, and respectful. In other words, a total pushover. But deep inside, she hid her feelings. She wanted to be needed and loved. She grew slowly, and finally reached the age of fifteen.

Then _he_ came.

It was a total coincidence they met in the first place. Lilyi was by herself, as usual. She was staring mournfully out the window, thinking of a life she never had. She saw him enter the section of the village dedicated to her clan.

Lilyi was mesmerized by the stranger. She watched him enter the main house. Her eyes were glued to the door of the main house for about an hour, which was when he left. But she decided he was nobody in particular, and tried to forget him.

He came back the next day. And the day after that. So on the next day, she finally plucked up the courage to approach him.

His name was Itachi. They gradually got to know each other.

Jongo was born about nine months later. The entire clan was furious. The niece of the head of the clan had ruined her reputation (and partly theirs) by having a bastard son Lilyi's father yelled at her and beat her, her mother simply pretended she never existed, and her brothers were very careful to treat her coldly. For a while, there was talk about disowning her. But the girl stayed.

Lilyi never hated her clan more as her little Jongo was growing up. She knew that behind her back, they called Jongo "Lilyi's bastard child." Jongo brought out a protective instinct inside of Lilyi. And she started truly despising her family for the way they treated her only child.

When Jongo turned four, Itachi came for another secret visit. He talked to Lilyi for a long time. Jongo had been awake the whole night, troubled because sometimes it sounded as if they argued. Then he went out of the house. Jongo remembered the night vividly because he could hear screaming, the screaming of his family. His grandfather, grandmother, uncles, and cousins, etc. Then the screaming eventually stopped entirely.

When Itachi came back, he had a bloody kunai.

Lilyi accepted her death, obedient to the very end. She had a smile on her lips. Ever since Jongo saw that, he could never, ever bring himself to hurt anyone.

The others talked about their moms occasionally. Yuri's mom, Nani, seemed like a vibrant, caring mother. Yuki's was Kisa, who seemed to have to scrape the bottom of the pot to support herself and her son. Christo and his own mother, Kagura, came from a big family, although most of them were ordinary civilians. Jooyeon never directly mentioned her mother. Despite his dislike of Jooyeon, Jongo felt a little pity for his half-sister who never even one decent parent. No wonder she was starved for affection.

"Hey, Jongo?" the tiny whisper made Jongo jump in surprise.

"Yeah?" Jongo turned over to face Yuri. "What is it?"

"Have you thought about it? Do you want to try to escape again?" his half-sister said. It was the first thing she had said in days. Maybe even weeks. But it was the first thing Jongo had ever heard her say in his life.

Yuri had never ever spoken before. Ever. She was mute, ever since the death of her own mother. She had a nice way of smiling, and had a great way of displaying an angry face, but she never uttered a word. Jongo had accepted that she would never speak. Sometimes though, he would curiously wonder how her voice sounded like.

It sounded a little wistful. Like Lilyi's.

"Are you mad at me?" Yuri asked childishly.

Jongo sucked in his breath. It was rare to have Yuri have a moment of weakness, no matter how short. But right now, with her eyes even bigger and rounder than usual and her face looking incredibly innocent, Jongo thought that maybe this was the way most four-year-olds acted.

"No." Jongo said. He glanced over at Jooyeon and Ann, even though he already knew they had been sleeping for the past two hours or so. Jooyeon said something in her sleep and turned over occasionally, but that was it. (Yes, Jooyeon talks in her sleep.) "I'm not angry at all."

Yuri nodded. "Good. Then we can go."

This time, her voice changed. It became stronger, slightly louder, and huskier. Jongo was half mesmerized. This was the first time he had ever heard his favorite sister talk. (Not that he had many choices. It was just Yuri and Jooyeon. And probably Ann, although he didn't know it yet.)

"Go where?" Jongo asked even though he already knew.

Yuri rolled her eyes. "You know. Out. And we'll take Ann with us."

"No." Jongo replied instantly. "Too risky. Too dangerous."

Jongo felt shame as he felt disgust radiate out of Yuri. Oh great, now his current ally was starting to hate him. But that couldn't be helped. Jongo remembered the family motto was, "Better a live dog than a dead lion." Or something to that effect. His mother believed in it, so did his uncles and grandparents and cousins and everyone else distantly related to the wealthy family.

"Fine. But me and Ann are eventually breaking out of here." Yuri snapped. She got another one of her stubborn looks on her face. "Whether you like it or not. I just have to get stronger and think of a good plan. All I need is more time."

Yuri turned over so that her back was to Jongo, and she promptly fell asleep.

_I'm a coward. I'm a no good, weak coward_. Jongo thought. Well, he wasn't anymore! It was time to leave. He would show Yuri he wasn't cowardly!

Jongo sucked in his breath, closed his eyes, and then shakily stood up. His sisters and Ann her still sleeping, although Yuri fidgeted a little, and Jooyeon mumbled something in her sleep. But that was about it.

Jongo's heart was thudding like crazy, he felt sweaty, and every cautious step sounded loud to him. Damn, he had to stop being so nervous.

He opened the door. _Creak_. The sound was so "loud" it made him jump.

Jongo carefully closed the door and tiptoed down the hall. He carefully peeked over his shoulder. Nobody. He was free! He was free! He was free! He was-

Bam.

Jongo froze. He didn't dare look up. He already knew who the person he had bumped into. It was Itachi.

Jongo immediately started cursing himself for not being stealthy enough. And the "escape plan" had been completely stupid. He was stupid, stupid, stupid. And not to mention he had self-esteem issues.

"Where are you going?" Itachi asked.

Jongo was too scared to answer, so he just shook his head.

"Come with me." Jongo felt himself being lifted up by the shirt. He made no effort to struggle or protest. If he did, no good would come out of it. Itachi lifted up high in the air, and the next thing he knew, everything turned black.

Jongo was pretty sure his father knocked him out by hitting him against the wall, because when he came around, his head hurt like hell.

Itachi was gone. He was alone.

This may have seemed perfect except that Jongo was in a padded room with a straitjacket. Great, just great.

Now he was rendered completely helpless, and Yuri and Ann probably didn't know where he was. And who knew what might happen if Father came back?

Life just sucked.

**About Yuki's cube thing. Is it called a Rubik's cube or a Rubric's cube? Or something else entirely? I can't remember!**

**Yes, you find out more Jongo and his own history, despite the fact that he's the last sibling shown. You'll find out more about the rest later.**

**If anyone reads the Fruits Basket manga, Yuki's mom, Kisa, and Christo's mom, Kagura, are also the names of characters from there. So that's three character names, Yuki, Kisa, and Kagura, from Fruits Basket.**

**In the next chapter, Naruto and Co. will finally reach Akatsuki base. :)**


	13. AN

**Author's note**

**I've got writer's block on this story. So I won't update for a long time. Check again next time. **

**I'm so, so, so, so sorry. Some advice would be good.**


	14. Intruder Alert!

**13. Intruder Alert!**

"So that's the Akatsuki base." Naruto whispered. "It looks…elaborate."

Yuki nodded. He had hoped never to be here again, but if it was to save Yuri and Jongo, he must. This place had too many bad memories.

Not to mention his lungs felt a little bad and it was harder to breathe than normal. Probably one of the starts of his asthma attacks. Yuki knew he shouldn't be here, and prayed that one of his attacks wouldn't come out. Not to mention he forgot to take his asthma medicine for the last two weeks. (Bad move, Yuki.)

But who else knew the way around the base? Well, there was Christo, but it would be much more useful if there were two instead of one.

Speaking of Christo, he was looking around. "Where's my uncle?"

Yuki wasn't particularly close to Sasuke, even though he was a nephew, too. Christo and Sasuke got along, Yuki and Sasuke just didn't. Besides, he wasn't around very much, and even then, it was mostly with Christo.

Christo had changed, for the worse or the better Yuki did not know. It was subtle, but still there. Christo now used his nickname most of the time. In the past, only family members called him "Christo." Now, everyone else called him that. "Christopher" was gone. Yuki didn't say anything about that small change, though.

"He's not here." Yuki snapped. "Let's go in."

But that stupid guy, Naruto, was holding him back. "Hold it! Aren't you a little too young to be here? I mean, this is dangerous and all."

Yuki bit him. Hard.

Naruto yelled in surprise. Yuki smiled. Biting people had been a habit of Yuri's, but it always looked fun to do. Still, Yuki didn't like losing his temper like Yuri did.

"Teeth as sharp as Yuri's." Naruto gritted his teeth and used all his willpower not to strangle the brat. But his fingers twitched.

Then, surprisingly, Christo bit his other hand.

"YEOW!" Naruto yelled, waving both of his bleeding hands. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Christo and Yuki smirked in unison. This frustrated Naruto so much that this time he _did_ try to strangle them. Fortunately for the two smiling boys, Naruto was held back by Sakura.

After Naruto had calmed down, he washed off the blood, all the while plotting his revenge. Then he snapped out of his anger, and thought about Yuri. Time to save her from the hands of Itachi.

When he got back from the stream, everyone was impatient and ready to go, especially Yuki. Christo seemed worried that his uncle wasn't here.

"So what's the plan?" Naruto asked, glaring at Yuki, who merely ignored it.

"Split up into pairs. Simple and effective." Sakura told him. "Okay, that's Sai and me, Kakashi and Christo, and then Yuki and Naruto."

"NO!" Naruto yelled. "Please, please, please don't put me in with Yuki! Or Christo!"

Sai patted Naruto's back. "That's all right, Naruto. You can go with me instead."

Naruto shuddered. "Never mind. I'm fine with Yuki."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Where the hell was Jongo?

When Yuri had woken up, he was nowhere to be seen. She searched every inch of the nursery, but he was gone. Now her brother had disappeared, for some strange reason. Did he wander off or did Father do something to him.

If it was the latter, she hoped it was quick and painless.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sakura and Sai had been invisible, although they knew it would wear off soon. What they didn't expect was it to wear off so quickly.

Five minutes after they had separated from everyone else, Sakura could see a faint outline of Sai. Ten minutes later, the effect wore off from both of them.

"This sucks!" Sakura yelled and kicked a nearby wall. (It didn't break, she knew better than to make too much noise and commotion.) "Why did we have to have the weak one!"

"Let's just disguise ourselves." Sai suggested.

Sakura was still glum. "Even if we disguise ourselves, that's a little bit of chakra we have to use. And is we bump into anyone, they'll know we're intruders because we don't know any passwords and stuff!"

"So what do we do?" Sai asked.

"Get out and abort the mission." Sakura replied. "It's our only option."

"Hey, who're you!" a guy in a Venus-flytrap (Zetsu) said. He had just entered this hallway when he saw two intruders.

"We're dead." Sai said.

"For once, I agree with you."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Naruto and Yuki's justsu also wore off quickly, but in twenty minutes.

Not only that, they heard the loudspeaker scream, "Intruder in the Akatsuki has been caught! Intruder in the Akatsuki has been caught! Be on the lookout for other intruders!"

"Intruder in the Akatsuki?" Naruto whispered harshly to Yuki. "One of the others have been caught."

"Well, duh." Yuki whispered right back. "We need to be more careful."

Yuki closed his eyes and thought for a minute. What to do, what to do.

Options (by Yuki Uchiha)

Turn back and abandon the mission

Attempt to find out/rescue who has been captured

Proceed with the mission (finding Yuri and potentially Jongo)

Both 2 and 3

Well, the answer was obviously 4. Still, Yuki Uchiha like making things organized.

"Let's proceed." Yuki told Naruto, who nodded. They were both extremely careful to be quiet. Once, Naruto breathed too loud, and a guard swiveled around. Luckily, he dismissed that as his nerves, so Yuki and Naruto got off free.

They tiptoed. They tried their best not to breathe too loud. They walked slowly.

In the end, their efforts paid off. Because they got lead to the end of a hall with a door stuck to it.

Naruto wished that Hinata or Neji or someone with Byakugan was here. Then it would be much, much easier finding Yuri and (possibly) Jongo and Jooyeon.

Yuki had a strange feeling that someone was in this room, someone important. And his intuition was usually right. Without consulting Naruto, he barged right in the room, knocking the door down (since it was locked).

There was his brother, Jongo.

Jongo looked terrible. First, he looked pale and sickly, which was unusual, because it was Yuki who was the unhealthy one. Secondly, he looked pretty damned tired, like he hadn't slept in a long time. Thirdly, he was in straitjacket inside a padded room. (Itachi is a little extreme parent, no?)

"Jongo!" Yuki yelled. He rushed to his brother's side. "You all right?"

"Do I look like I'm all right." Jongo replied in a weak voice, gritting his teeth. "I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm sleepy, I'm thirsty, and I need to go to the bathroom."

"Fair point, little bro." Yuki gave a rare affectionate smile.

"I am not your little brother. We're the same age." Jongo said, and there was a hint of amusement in his voice now. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"I'm still older." Yuki said. "How do you undo straitjackets?"

Yuki fumbled with the jacket, but couldn't do anything. Naruto came over and tried to help. In the end, they slashed it open with some handy kunai.

Jongo felt odd after he had been freed, but he had spent the last 24 hours or so not moving. So it was perfectly natural that the blond guy carry him, right?

"W-What are you doing here?" Jongo asked, and it felt like there was some cotton in his mouth and down his throat. (He hasn't drank either.) "Who's blondie?"

"We're here on a rescue mission. Blondie's name is Naruto Uzumaki. He's idiotic, but he had good intentions." Yuki told him.

Naruto was about to raise his voice when the last part of the sentence soaked in. That was the first compliment Yuki had ever paid him. Even though it was just "he has good intention." Hmm, Yuki didn't look down on him as much as he thought.

"Hey, ugly, when're you gonna help? Get your lazy ass down here." Yuki snapped.

Or maybe not.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Kakashi and Christo's wore off in two minutes, but since it was Kakashi who did the jutsu in the first place, he was able to do a longer one. But then Kakashi realized he made a mistake, and accidentally made the others' jutsu short wearing too. And he knew it was a big mistake when the loudspeaker started yelling about intruders.

But Christo ignored it. "Hey, I know this place! It's the way to the nursery! Follow me!"

Christo then sped off into a certain direction. Kakashi sighed and followed.

After a few twists and turns, they stopped by the door of the "nursery." Christo smiled and opened it.

In there were three little girls, Yuri, Jooyeon, and Ann.

All three of them jumped at the sound of the opening door, but there wasn't anyone there. Or so it seemed.

"Doors just don't open like that." Yuri said suspiciously.

"They don't." Christo said. "Yuri, are you actually talking?"

Yuri blinked in astonishment. "Christo! Is that you!"

Ann jumped up and down. "Christo! Christo! Christo! Christo!"

"Hi, Ann." Christo said.

"Um, we can't see you." Jooyeon snapped.

Kakashi looked at the girl. She had the usual dark hair and pale skin, but she had a bit of a difference. For one, her eyes were more brown than black, or maybe it was because she had a more distinct face structure.

"I'm invisible, obviously." Christo said with an air of superiority. "C'mon, let's go."

It wasn't a good day for Jooyeon so she started a mini-rant. "Have you forgotten about Father and the rest of the Akatsuki! They'd capture us before we took a step out, which is probably what happened to Jongo! Not to mention we're a bunch of little kids with no chance of escaping!"

"But I'm here." Kakashi said.

"Kakashi?" Yuri asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes."

Yuri turned to Jooyeon smugly. "See, there." Then she grabbed Ann's hand and walked out the door. Everyone else followed.

**So that's it. Sigh. Not a really good chapter, but I might come back and change it later. I also spent a long time on it, but no inspiration or ideas came to me.**

**Still have a bit of a writer's block, but I'll still work on this.**

**I've been working on two other stories besides this one. So I'll finish this, then finish others, and then make a part 2.**


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